Mentorship and Advising Programs
UCSF offers numerous structured and informal opportunities for pediatric residents to connect with faculty members for mentorship, advising, and further professional development.
Mentorship
As part of the formal mentorship program, our program annually creates a mentor database of faculty volunteers who have self-identified as being passionate about mentoring residents. In this database, faculty list their clinical and academic areas of focus, the types of mentorship they are best able to provide, and aspects of their personal and professional backgrounds and interests they would like to share. Faculty members are also able to self-identify specific mentorship interests (e.g., mentoring residents who identify as underrepresented in medicine, LGBTQ, first-generation graduates, parents, physician scientists, etc), with the goal of supporting residents being able to more easily identify experienced mentors in areas of particular importance to them. Residents annually select an individual mentor from this database with whom they will meet several times across the year. Residents often select a mentor based on their intended career path, shared research/academic interests, and/or shared identities or experiences. As part of the program, mentors and mentees have access to an online Mentorship Toolkit to guide their work together and are encouraged to participate in year-round mentorship and professional development activities.
In addition to the individualized mentorship provided through the formal mentorship program, most residents find it helpful to connect with other faculty members and fellows for one-time conversations or additional longitudinal support around specific aspects of their professional development. The mentorship database, the resident’s formal mentor, and the resident’s formal advisor serve as excellent resources for making these additional connections. Finally, our program offers opportunities several times throughout each year for residents to connect with faculty and fellows in more informal settings (e.g., community groups, after-hours events), both for mentorship and for community-building.
Advising
Our program assigns each resident a faculty advisor from the pediatric leadership team.
Our advising program is meant to help residents evaluate their clinical progress and support them in identifying and achieving their clinical and professional goals. Residents meet quarterly with their advisor to discuss evaluations and identify skills that are best practiced on their upcoming rotations. The ACGME pediatric milestones, as well as Entrustable Practice Activities, form the roadmap for our residents from day one of intern year to graduation. A particular strength of our program is that residents have a direct line of connection to the pediatric residency leadership because all APDs and the program director serve as advisors. In addition, the frequency of meetings ensures that residents are able to reflect and incorporate feedback in a timely way, as well as prepare for upcoming career steps, such as pathway or fellowship application
