The Interdisciplinary MAP of Mentorship: A Circular Model to Develop Junior Faculty within Health Professions Education

Background Faculty mentorship is essential in medical education. Effective mentorship fosters inclusion, skill development, and academic success, with various models addressing challenges. Methods The TEACH Mentoring Advancement Program was created to address a need for mentoring by utilizing a mentoring circle concept, combining one-on-one, group, and peer mentoring. Recruitment involved nominations and interest surveys. The program ran for a year, incorporating quarterly in-person sessions, self-guided learning modules, and circle meetings, tailored to participants’ needs. Results The TEACH Mentoring Advancement Program was evaluated using a one-group pre–post with a baseline external comparison design involving participating mentors and mentees, and a control group. Data collected included interest/needs surveys, mentoring self-assessment tools, session feedback, and post-self-assessment surveys. Results showed high interest in mentorship, with mentees desiring guidance in career advancement, leadership, teaching, and research. While sample sizes were small, mentees reported higher self-ratings in several area at post-test, and comments described connections, career advice, and flexible learning. Challenges included mentor disengagement and content alignment for non-clinical faculty. Conclusions The TEACH Mentoring Advancement Program participants reported cross-department interactions, greater familiarity with selected content areas, and opportunities for skill development. The TEACH Mentoring Advancement Program’s collaborative, interdisciplinary approach holds promise for equitable faculty development in academic medicine, encouraging adaptation or adoption of similar models to meet diverse institutional needs.