Beyond Mentee Success: The SHIFT Program as a Catalyst for Mentor Development in Biomedical Research Training

We developed the SHort Course In transFerable Skills Training (SHIFT) Program to provide graduate students across the United States with business skills (project management, marketing, and budgeting) to prepare them for rewarding careers in biomedical research. While the primary key performance indicator of the program is mentee benefits, we explored the hypothesis that mentoring can also enhance the professional development of the mentor. We investigated the impact of the SHIFT Program on our mentors through a survey. Each of 4 groups of 6 students was paired with 2 mentors, giving a total of 8 mentors for Cohort 1, and 100% completed the survey. Of the mentors, all 8 (100%) were underrepresented in science, with 6 of 8 identifying as women (75%), 7 of 8 (88%) had previous experience as mentors in research labs, and 2 of 8 (25%) had participated in a formal mentor training program. For the question, “What attracted you to being a mentor for the SHIFT Program?”, the highest ranked themes by comment frequency were: the chance to serve as a mentor (n=7), viewing mentoring as a rewarding experience (n=5), and appreciation for the program and its objectives (n=4). All 8 (100%) reported that each of the 3 modules (personality assessments, workshop, and monthly practice sessions) was moderately or extremely useful. On a 1-5 scale, with 1 being not really and 5 being to a great extent, mentors scored 4.4±0.7 for the SHIFT Program has improved my mentoring skills; 4.6±0.5 for the SHIFT Program has given me confidence in mentoring; and 4.5±0.8 for the SHIFT Program has taught me strategies for effective mentoring, including clear communication and aligning expectations. The top answers to the question, “In what ways has the SHIFT program improved your mentoring skills?”, were improved mentoring skills (n=5) and ability to tailor mentoring to the individual mentee (n=4). Overall, mentors unanimously agreed that participation in the SHIFT Program significantly improved their mentoring effectiveness and skill development. Mentoring the mentors, therefore, provides insights for their own professional growth. This abstract was presented at the American Physiology Summit 2026 and is only available in HTML format. There is no downloadable file or PDF version. The Physiology editorial board was not involved in the peer review process.