Contact Information

Mentoring at the Center for Faculty Development

Email: alevy@mgh.harvard.edu

Confidential Contact

If you need advice on obtaining a mentor or dealing with a challenging mentoring situation, please contact Dr. Anne Levy, CFD Senior Program Manager: alevy@mgh.harvard.edu. 
Your confidentiality will be respected.

Mentoring Resources

    Latest News

    • New: Mentorship in C/T Research
      Mentorship is critical for career and skill development in clinical and translational research, but locating practical resources on how to initiate, build, maintain, and assess these relationships is often challenging. To fill this gap, we’ve developed a new guide with popular resources we’ve adapted from our course and program content to help both mentees and mentors at all career stages maximize their relationships and grow their networks.

    Mentoring Advice and Support

    Articles by MGH faculty on Mentoring:

    Videos by senior mentors on the value of mentoring.

    Jennifer Temel, MD, on the value of mentoring

    Hasan Bazari, MD, on the value of mentoring, a reflections by a John T. Potts, Jr., MD Faculty Mentoring Award recipient

    Maurizio Fava, MD, reflects on the importance of mentoring.

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    Speed Mentoring Sessions

    Speed mentoring with mentor leaders, open to all faculty:
    Register to participate and come ready with questions about any aspect of mentoring or being mentored. Whether you are a trainee at the start of your professional career, a clinician educator, a physician scientist, or a basic investigator, our mentoring leader pair will provide expert advice. You can be a mentee, a beginning mentor, or an experienced mentor—mentorship, whether getting or giving, inevitably involves complexities, conundrums, and quandaries. You will learn not only from the senior mentoring leaders but also from fellow attendees.

    • Wednesday, January 22, 2025 (10:00-11:00 am) with Mentoring Facilitators: John T. Mullen, MD, Director, General Surgery Residency Program; and David G. Hunter, MD, PhD, Vice Chair for Promotions and Reappointments, Ophthalmology - Register here
    • Thursday, February 6, 2025 (2:00-3:00 pm) with Mentoring Facilitators: Jessica B. McCannon, MD, Physician, Pulmonary & Critical Care Unit; and Shannon E. Scott-Vernaglia, MD, Associate Chief for Clinical Faculty Development, Department of Pediatrics
    • Monday, March 17, 2025 (11:00 am-12:00 pm) with Mentoring Facilitators: Erin Tracy Bradley, MD, Associate Professor in Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology; and Pamela Schaefer, MD, Professor of Radiology and Vice Chair of Education, Department of Radiology
    • Friday, May 16, 2025 (1:00-2:00 pm) with Mentoring Facilitators: Helen A. Shih, MD, Medical Director of Proton Therapy Center and Professor of Radiation Oncology; and Holly Khachadoorian-Elia, MD, MBA, Vice Chair of Administration, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology

    Peer Mentoring Groups

    Peer mentoring has been shown to improve support, collaboration and access to resources. Peer mentoring groups empower robust debate, learning, and problem solving in a space of trust and both practical and emotional support.

    • Peer mentoring groups for women faculty, involving more than 200 faculty from Assistant through Full Professors
    • Peer Mentoring for Parents Program
    • Peer Mentoring Group for Clinician Educators, offered through the CFD Office for Clinical Careers
    • Peer coaching for Postdoctoral Research Fellows starting fall 2024, offered through the CFD Postdoctoral Division: stay tuned for more information!

    Questions? Contact Dr. Anne Levy, CFD Senior Program Manager: alevy@mgh.harvard.edu. 

    Resources

    Awards

    The CFD Excellence in Mentoring Awards recognize faculty and postdoctoral fellows who have mentored and contributed to the success of other faculty and/or trainees during their career. Winners and nominees are announced annually each January at the Celebration of Mentoring at MGH.

    The nomination procedure for each of these awards is included below under “Learn more.” Please note that a nominator can nominate only ONE candidate per award. Nominators from outside MGH are welcome, but at least one nominator must be from within MGH.

    John T. Potts, Jr,. MD, Faculty Mentoring Award

    The MGH Center for Faculty Development created the John T. Potts, Jr., MD, Faculty Mentoring Award in 2011 to recognize and honor senior faculty members with ten or more years of mentoring experience at MGH, in the spirit of further building a culture of mentoring at our hospital. The inaugural recipient of this award, John T. Potts, Jr., MD, is the Jackson Distinguished Professor of Clinical Medicine at MGH and Harvard Medical School. He served as chairman of the MGH Department of Medicine and physician-in-chief from 1981 to 1996 and as director of research from 1995 to 2004.

    This $5,000 award will be given to a faculty member from any MGH department who has contributed to the success of junior faculty members and trainees and demonstrated excellence in several ways including:

    • Having a positive impact on careers of junior faculty
    • Implementing ideas/programs that promote faculty success
    • Demonstrating sustained interest and success in mentoring junior faculty and/or trainees
    • Fostering and encouraging the professional development of junior faculty and trainees
    • Facilitating and/or developing approaches to work-life balance

    2020 marked the tenth year of honoring a consummate Mass General mentor with the Potts Award. The CFD took this occasion to acknowledge all the recipients of this special award by creating this booklet, Celebrating the John T. Potts, Jr., MD Faculty Mentoring Award 2011–2020 (PDF).

    Learn more

     

    Rising Mentor Awards

    The MGH Center for Faculty Development has created the Rising Mentor Award in 2021 to recognize MGH faculty members at the Instructor through Assistant Professor rank who have developed noteworthy expertise in mentoring since they were appointed faculty but who have not yet reached the senior status that the CFD Potts Mentoring Award recognizes.

    This $1,000 award will be given to two faculty members, from any MGH department who have contributed to the success of junior faculty members and trainees and demonstrated excellence in several ways including:

    • Having a positive impact on the careers of junior faculty
    • Implementing ideas/programs that promote faculty success
    • Demonstrating sustained interest and success in mentoring junior faculty and/or trainees
    • Fostering and encouraging the professional development of junior faculty and trainees
    • Facilitating and/or developing approaches to work-life balance

    Learn more

     

    Ally for Women Faculty Award

    Research demonstrates that societal biases and institutional patterns prevent women from attaining the same success in their careers as men. To encourage a culture of stronger sponsorship of women and one in which institutional biases are confronted and changed, the MGH Center for Faculty Development has created the Ally for Women Faculty Award to recognize allies who support and empower women colleagues in advancing their career and achieving their professional goals and who actively work to create a more open, equitable environment in which women can thrive, grow, and attain major leadership roles.

    This $1,000 award will be given to a faculty member from any MGH department who serves as a strong collaborator, mentor, and sponsor of women. The recipient will have demonstrated support of women faculty by:

    • Listening in a generous and capacious way
    • Engaging in the deliberate inclusion of women
    • Providing career advice, feedback, encouragement, and motivation
    • Affirming, sponsoring, and celebrating women colleagues
    • Being an upstander in calling out bias
    • Advocating to change organizational practices and norms to remove barriers that inhibit women’s careers
    • Providing public support for the advancement and promotion of women colleagues through power opportunities and connections

    Learn more

     

    Outstanding Mentor of UiM Faculty and Trainees Award

    Research demonstrates that societal and institutional biases perpetuate the existence of hurdles that Underrepresented in Medicine (UiM) faculty and trainees confront as they try to advance their careers toward the success their talent deserves. To encourage a culture of stronger sponsorship of UiM faculty and trainees and one in which institutional biases are confronted and changed, the MGH Center for Faculty Development, in consultation with the MGH Center for Diversity and Inclusion, has created the Outstanding Mentor of UiMs Award to recognize faculty who support and empower their UiM colleagues in advancing their career and achieving their professional goals and who actively work to create a more open, equitable environment in which UiMs can thrive, grow, and attain major leadership roles.

    This $1,000 award will be given to a faculty member from any MGH department who serves as a strong collaborator, mentor, and sponsor of UiM faculty and trainees. The recipient will have demonstrated support of UiM colleagues by:

    • Listening in a generous and capacious way
    • Engaging in the deliberate inclusion of UiM colleagues
    • Providing career advice, feedback, encouragement, and motivation
    • Affirming, sponsoring, and celebrating UiM colleagues
    • Being an upstander in calling out bias
    • Advocating to change organizational practices and norms to remove barriers that inhibit the careers of UiM colleagues
    • Providing public support for the advancement and promotion of URM colleagues through power opportunities and connections

    Learn more

     

    Excellence in Clinical Mentoring Award

    The MGH Center for Faculty Development has created the Excellence in Clinical Mentoring Award to recognize clinicians who serve as stellar models of best practice in patient care and provide substantive, ongoing mentorship support to fellow faculty in clinical practice across the inpatient, outpatient, or operating room setting.

    This $1,000 award will be given to a faculty member from any MGH department who has contributed to honing the clinical expertise and helping accomplish the clinical goals of fellow faculty members and demonstrated excellence in several ways, including:

    • Having a positive impact on the clinical practice of fellow faculty
    • Implementing ideas that promote faculty success in clinical care
    • Demonstrating sustained interest and success in mentoring fellow faculty in the clinical setting
    • Fostering and encouraging the professional development of fellow faculty in their clinical expertise
    • Modeling healthy approaches to work-life balance in the context of a heavy clinical schedule

    Learn more

     

    Outstanding Principal Investigator (PI) Mentor of Trainees Award

    The MGH Office for Research Careers (ORC) within the Center for Faculty Development offers this annual award given to an MGH Principal Investigator (PI) who has contributed to the success of their trainees: postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, undergraduates, or high school student(s). Nominations by present and past trainees are highly encouraged.

    This $1,000 award will be given to one or more faculty members at any rank and from any MGH department who has/have demonstrated excellence in mentoring in several ways, including:

    • Demonstrating sustained interest and success in mentoring trainees in research
    • Having a positive impact on the academic progress and achievements of trainees
    • Helping trainees stay on track with their academic work
    • Fostering and encouraging the professional development of PhD postdoctoral fellows and graduate student(s)
    • Fostering a diverse, inclusive, and supportive environment for trainees

    Learn more

     

    Outstanding Research Fellow Mentor Award

    Through this award, the MGH Postdoctoral Division (PDD) within the Center for Faculty Development Office for Research Careers (ORC) aims to recognize postdoctoral research fellows at MGH who have achieved outstanding mentoring abilities.

    This $500 award will be given to one or more research fellows who has/have made outstanding contributions in mentoring fellow postdoc trainees, graduate students, college students, and/or high school students, demonstrating excellence in mentoring by:

    • Helping incoming research trainees navigate the research realm at MGH and develop their research path
    • Providing a positive impact on the academic progress and achievements of other trainees in their lab
    • Fostering the professional development of other trainees academically, professionally, and personally
    • Demonstrating ongoing interest in the mentoring and success of other colleagues in their respective field

    Learn more

     

    Departmental Mentoring Programs

    Examples of Mass General Departmental Mentoring Program Structures:

    DERMATOLOGY

    The Department of Dermatology at MGH  has a two-tiered mentoring program.  Every department member is assigned a mentor at the time of hire based upon clinical and intellectual interests.  The mentor is at Associate Professor level or above and meets with the mentee at least once per year.  As appropriate, mentorship committees are created.  Additionally, senior leadership meets with each physician at least annually to discuss, among other things, whether the individual feels adequately mentored.  Based upon the feedback, changes in mentors are implemented.

    For faculty members with a narrow focus of clinical or research interest, mentors are sought outside of the department and outside of MGH.  On rare occasions, we have perceived that a conflict of interest might exist between an obvious departmental mentor and potential mentee.  In that instance, mentors external to the institution are selected.  The Vice Chair for Academic Affairs interviews the proposed mentor(s) to assure that the academic / clinical interests of the mentee would be supported and to ascertain that the external mentor will commit the necessary time and effort on behalf of the MGH faculty member.

    EMERGENCY MEDICINE

    The department has launched as of 2021 a pilot program for mentoring early stage Emergency Medicine faculty. The Vice Chair for Faculty Affairs will work with faculty to establish, for each one, a Mentorship committee of 2-5 people, with a mix of members bringing different experiences and strengths. They will support the mentee in developing career goals, timelines, and milestones. At each Annual Meeting with the Chair, the results of this committee work will be reviewed.

    MEDICINE Secondary Mentoring Program Pilot

    This cross-divisional secondary mentoring program aims to enhance career advancement and satisfaction and will also examine whether such a program leads to greater job satisfaction than access to career development resources alone. Mass General Department of Medicine faculty members with a primary non-investigator role are invited to participate as Mentees; secondary mentors are recruited from a list of senior Department of Medicine faculty members. Participants will be provided career development resources and matched to a secondary mentor for either the entire 12 months of the pilot program or the last 6 months. All participants will be expected to attend one-on-one mentor-mentee virtual meetings monthly for the first 3 months and then at least every 2 months for the remainder of the program, as well as to complete a short survey at 0, 6, and 12 months.

    NEUROLOGY

    The underlying principle of this mentoring program is that the optimal mentor is a senior faculty member who knows the mentee best. The mentor serves as the mentee’s primary advisor, particularly in the areas of HMS promotion, annual career conference and other ad hoc advisory meetings, and advocacy within the department. To build the pipeline of early-career investigators, research faculty meet once or twice per year with secondary research mentors from outside their own labs/research groups to get useful perspective and problem-solving advice for both scientific and career challenges. The program includes a “Mentor Monthly” newsletter and annual Mentor of the Year awards for mentoring in Clinical Excellence and Investigation. Annual career conferences between mentees and mentors are based on an on-line survey and record-keeping process that create a readily retrievable record of the discussion. Senior departmental leaders hold one-on-one meetings with all mentors to provide equal consideration for every faculty member, with an eye towards assessing promotability.

    OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY

    The Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB/GYN) faculty mentoring program was initiated in 2001 as a pilot program, coordinated with the MGH Center for Faculty Development and designed utilizing focus groups and written surveys. The vast majority of faculty actively participated in this voluntary activity. (See Tracy E, Jagsi R, Starr R, Tarbell N, Am J Obstet Gynecol; 2004: 191(6): 1846-50.) The dyad mentor/mentee mentoring model has persisted since 2001, with new faculty members identifying potential mentors and the coordinator facilitating the formal commitment. Every year there is a Grand Rounds dedicated to mentoring. The A.K. Goodman Vincent Obstetrics and Gynecology Faculty Mentoring Award is given to an outstanding faculty member annually. All faculty members are invited to submit nominations. A mentoring committee oversees this award and mentoring activities in the department as a whole. Over the past 20 years participants have participated in a number of surveys that help to refine the program. Current efforts include establishing a speed dating sort of mentoring event, dedicated time for mentoring meetings, and regular updates about individual strategies to enhance mentoring.

    The OB/GYN department also participates in the combined BWH/MGH residency program in which faculty mentors are paired with resident mentees.

    OPHTHALMOLOGY

    The central focus of this mentoring program is to direct and support junior faculty toward promotion. With rare exceptions, every Full-time Instructor, Assistant Professor and Associate Professor is assigned two mentors from among Professors, Associate Professors, and Service and Site Directors. Basic science faculty are assigned a clinical mentor as well as a research one, to gain greater insight into translational research. Both mentees and mentors can confidentially communicate with the Manager of Faculty Affairs, who shares concerns/suggestions with the Mentoring Oversight Board, made up of four faculty members and overseen by the Chair. This group assigns mentor-mentee pairs and selects the annual recipient of the Excellence in Mentoring Award. Surveys are run annually to gauge the effectiveness of the program and further develop it based on faculty feedback. This program received a 2019 HMS Program Award for a Culture of Excellence in Mentoring (PACEM).

    ORTHOPAEDICS

    As we continually strive to advance the field of orthopedics and foster academic growth in our department, we recognize the impact mentorship can have on one's academic career. This 2024 pilot program is designed to bridge the gap between our more experienced faculty and those who are eager to learn by creating a collaborative research environment. Through this program, our mentees (senior residents, year 3 and 4; post docs; junior faculty) will have an opportunity to learn the MGB research culture, expand their professional networks, and accelerate academic development. Interested mentees fill out an application and are matched by the Orthopaedic Mentorship Committee with the most appropriate mentor. The official timeline of the relationship is 1 year, but mentorship can be ongoing beyond target goals. The mentee is responsible for initiating meetings with the mentor and completing quarterly surveys.

    PEDIATRICS

    The mentoring program in the Department of Pediatrics at Mass General for Children is directed by Drs. Madhu Misra and Jim Perrin. A key component of the program is a mentor-mentee match that occurs annually. Mentees are matched with mentors and meet as needed (typically at least quarterly) for discussions around career development, leadership, research, clinical practice, teaching, administration, work-life balance, and advocacy, among others. They are also provided with basic resources for a successful mentoring relationship. An annual survey is used to make necessary improvements to the program. To recognize the efforts of our mentors, the program solicits nominations for an annual Excellence in Mentoring Award. The program has recently expanded to include a mock study section to review and provide feedback for K and first R-level grants being submitted by faculty.

    RADIOLOGY

    This program provides dedicated one-on-one mentoring and the creation of a mentorship network as well as access to opportunities for career development and promotion. Mentees include new faculty, Instructors and Assistant Professors, both clinical radiologists and research faculty. A unique part of the program is cross-division mentorship, which allows mentor and mentee to gain an outside perspective, increases the openness within the department and across divisions, and avoids conflicts of interest between faculty members in the same division. The mentee is encouraged to create a "Mentorship Board of Directors”—a list of advisors and mentors with different expertise who may be from different divisions, departments or institutions, medical or even non-medical. The program includes a yearly mentoring award. It received a 2020 HMS Program Award for a Culture of Excellence in Mentoring (PACEM).

    SURGERY

    The Department of Surgery offers mentoring programs tailored to faculty and trainees at different stages of their careers. Each program is designed to help individuals achieve their academic and personal goals by offering guidance, support, and encouragement, while promoting a positive and inclusive scholarly environment. The Junior Faculty Mentoring Program is designed to support faculty who are in the early years of their career. Each faculty member is assigned a mentoring team comprised of 3-4 faculty members, each representing a different aspect of the mentees’ interests. Meetings are scheduled 3 times a year but mentors are always available for consultation. The Refresh Mentoring Program was created for mid-career faculty who may benefit from a fresh review and perspective from a mentoring team comprised of 2-3 senior faculty. The Reanalyze Mentoring Program is designed for non-clinical Research Faculty and is structured to encourage greater community and collaboration. There are monthly sessions centered around topics of interest (i.e. grant writing, publishing high impact papers, industry and pharmaceutical interactions, etc).

    Articles on Mentoring by MGH Faculty

    Departmental Mentor Leaders

    Mentoring Leader Round Table: Mentor leaders meet on a bimonthly basis to share mentoring program structures and initiatives, successes and challenges. These meetings consist of focused discussion topics, mentor trainings and/or invited speakers, including Vineet Chopra, MD, MSc, FHM (Michigan Medicine) and Jennifer A. Haythornthwaite, MA, PhD (Johns Hopkins Medicine).