Department of Radiation Oncology
Training & Education

Mentorship Program

Are You a Patient?

Faculty Mentorship Program

Purpose: 

The department of Radiation Oncology Faculty Mentorship Program was established to help support the development needs of junior rank faculty in achieving their career objectives. These objectives range from promotion, clinical practice building, administrative operations, research efforts, among other things. This is accomplished by identifying and matching senior level faculty with suitable mentees who are interested in in improving in areas that the Mentor/s are proficient in, in an effort to achieve the mentee’s goals. 

How we gathered information: 

  • The first step was to collect information utilizing our internal Mentorship Program Intake Form, which was sent to all the faculty (Senior and Junior rank).
  • Senior faculty members had a choice of being a mentor, a mentee or both.   

How we selected the assignments: 

  • After the information was received it was put into a database that took captured all data points such as: 
    • Track, Ranks, Interests, Years of Experience, Goals and Objectives, Prior Mentoring relationships, Mentor vs Mentee, etc.  
  • Program matches were established by looking at the Mentor’s strengths and the Mentee’s interests.  
  • Mentoring committees were established for some mentees who would benefit from having multiple mentors with varying experience and strengths.  
  • Not all mentors might be selected in the original assignments and appointments can happen on an ongoing basis. 
  • We also took into consideration any previous/current mentoring relationship and formalized those relationships if they were found to be effective as is. 

Program details: 

At the beginning of the mentoring relationship, the roles are usually very clear: A review of the mentees interests and goals is done with the assigned mentors. Mentors then often provide the initial ideas, infrastructure, guidelines and support for a project or effort they have expressed is a priority for their development. Mentees are then expected to perform the work as assigned by the Mentor and/or Mentoring Committee. The Mentors and mentees are expected to meet on a regular basis and track and report progress, developments, or issues to the Mentoring Program Admin Team. 

 

Reporting/Evaluation: 

  • In the initial assignment email, the committee gave the faculty a deadline to follow and to report back when the initial meeting is and what progress was made.  
  • Minimum of a quarterly meeting at least to begin with and can be adjusted to your specific needs. 
    • If desired, a meeting cadence that best suits their needs can be requested by the mentoring committee, and the coordinator can send reminder emails accordingly.  
  • An email summary from mentee following the completion of any of these formal meetings outlining any developments, progress, and/or issues.  
  • All emails (Post meeting, Annual summary, and any questions or concerns) should all be sent to RadOncAdmin@med.usc.edu for recording. 
  • Tracking progress towards specific goals is also a useful metric to track, please be sure to inquire about goal progress if summaries don’t indicate status. 
  • Annually prior to the annual merit review process’ a summary of the previous year’s mentoring activities and any achievements/progress that was made because of these meetings should be communicated to the Mentoring Committee.  
  • An annual programmatic survey that is sent to both Mentors and Mentees should also be conducted to help evaluate program effectiveness wile simultaneously helping to identify potential changes in assignments and to understand roadblocks that need addressing. 
    • Potential Questions: 
      • Has your Mentor or Mentee has been available and willing to meet on a regular basis? 
      • Have you and your Mentor/Mentee been able to make progress towards the Mentee’s goals and objectives? 
      • Are you benefitting from the time spent with your Mentor/Mentee? 
      • If you are not benefitting from your mentorship program assignment, do you want to continue? 
      • Please tell us any of your other thoughts regarding the program as a whole or your specific Mentor/Mentee relationship. 

Impact: 

To provide a means of enhancing the professional growth and development of our junior faculty by partnering them with our more experienced and capable senior rank faculty. This effort will allow both the mentors and mentees to bolster their academic, research, and clinical experience. These efforts are often beneficial during the promotion and appointment processes, as well as during annual faculty merit review evaluation.  

 

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