A Longitudinal Mentoring Approach to Increase Diversity Among Researchers of Neurological Disorders

Despite the many initiatives designed to increase diversity among neuroscience researchers, the sad fact is that there has been a decline in the proportion and absolute numbers of minority researchers in the field of neuroscience. This failure is disturbing at a number of levels, but perhaps most notably highlights the inability of more senior investigators to effectively mentor junior investigators in their discipline. The loss of diversity among career scientists means a loss of diversity of thought, which in turn limits the generation of new ideas and scientific progress in the neurosciences. The inability of the multiple training programs to increase diversity is not an indictment of those programs, but rather it illustrates limitations in program approach. As a result, we propose to take a different route to addressing this problem. Our program is based on published findings that underrepresented individuals are lost in the system at transition points in their training, i.e., graduate school to postdoctoral training, postdoctoral training to faculty members, and tenure for young faculty. From self-report data, a principal contributing factor regarding attrition is that individuals feel isolated by not having meaningful ethnic and/or racial peer groups. In this R25 program we propose to take a longitudinal approach to mentoring in which we establish peer groups across each stage of professional development and utilize these peer groups to provide interactive mentoring within a community. We will recruit from across the nation a cohort of trainees from underrepresented backgrounds, consisting of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and early stage investigators. For each of these cohorts we will provide longitudinal training in professional skills and mentoring. Through both mentor/mentee and peer-to-peer/peer-to-near peer mentorship structures, we will tailor professional development consistent with the progression of the trainee, while simultaneously creating a network of support amongst its participants. A key element of the program will be to teach the participants in the program how to be effective mentors themselves as a means to maintain the longitudinal development of program participants. Finally, we will provide access to high-level research cores and laboratories to enhance the scientific impact of the participants’ research. Participants will meet in Minnesota for one week each summer for professional training and guidance. For topics that span across career stage, the cohort will work together. There will also be specialized training sessions specific to academic rank. In addition to the on-site summer training, there will be two additional formal training events. In the fall, our trainees and mentors will meet at the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting to participate in both professional development and a social event. In the winter, there will be an on-line video teleconference discussion following the group’s completion of an on-line professional development session. Overall, our goal is to fundamentally alter mentored training, and significantly enhance workforce diversity in the academic pursuit of research on neurological disorders.