“Biomedical Workforce Diversity: The Context for Mentoring to Develop Talents and Foster Success Within the ‘Pipeline’” (original) (raw)

Abstract

Like all biomedical research fields, AIDS research needs the broadest diversity of experiences and perspectives among researchers in the field if creative advancements are to be achieved. Mentors and mentoring are the most important vehicles by which the talents of young scientists are developed. However, mentoring as a teaching and learning paradigm is very complex and idiosyncratic, and often inadvertently fails to provide the same quality and quantity of opportunity to aspiring scientists who are ‘different’ from those doing the mentoring. This article provides a theoretical and practical framework for understanding how differences of race, ethnicity, gender, skin color, social status and other identifiable characteristics can play into scientific development during mentoring ‘within the pipeline’. It also serves as a foundation upon which mentoring in AIDS is considered by subsequent papers in this series. Finally, it goes beyond mentoring to propose systematic coaching as an effective complement to research mentoring to promote success, especially for individuals from underrepresented groups.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Metcalf, H. Stuck in the pipeline: a critical review of STEM workforce literature. Interactions: UCLA J of Ed and Information Studies. 2010. http://escholarship.org/uc/item/6zf09176.
  2. Blickenstaff JC. Women and science careers: leaky pipeline or gender filter? Gend Educ. 2005;17:369–86.
    Article Google Scholar
  3. Enhancing the Postdoctoral Experience for Scientists and Engineers. 2016. http://www.nap.edu/catalog/9831/enhancing-the-postdoctoral-experience-for-scientists-and-engineers-a-guide. Accessed 9 March 2016.
  4. National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. 2015. Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in science and engineering (2015) http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/. Accessed 9 March 2016.
  5. National Science Foundation (NIH), National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. 2013. Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in science and engineering (2013) http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf13311/. Accessed 9 March 2016.
  6. Cannady MA, Greenwald E, Harris KN. Problematizing the STEM pipeline metaphor: is the STEM pipeline metaphor serving out students and the STEM workforce? Sci Educ. 2014;98:443–60.
    Article Google Scholar
  7. McGee R, Saran S, Krulwich TA. Diversity in the biomedical workforce: developing talent. Mt Sinai J Med. 2012;79:397–411.
    Article PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
  8. Handelsman J, Pfund C, Lauffer S, Pribbenow C. Entering mentoring: a seminar to train a new generation of scientists. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press; 2005.
    Google Scholar
  9. Meagher E, Taylor L, Probsfield J, Fleming M. Evaluating research mentors working in the area of clinical translational science: a review of the literature. Clin Trans Sci. 2011;4:353–8.
    Article Google Scholar
  10. Abedin Z, Biskup E, Silet K, et al. Deriving competencies for mentors of clinical and translational scholars. Clin Trans Sci. 2012;5:273–80.
    Article Google Scholar
  11. Pfund C, House S, Spencer K, et al. A research mentor training curriculum for clinical and translational researchers. Clin Trans Sci. 2013;6:26–33.
    Article Google Scholar
  12. Fleming M, House S, Shewakramani V, et al. The mentoring competency assessment: validation of a new 26-item instrument. Acad Med. 2013;88(7):1–7.
    Article Google Scholar
  13. Pfund C, House S, Spencer K, et al. Training mentors of clinical and translational research scholars: a randomized controlled trial. Acad Med. 2014;89(5):774–82.
    Article PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
  14. Strauss SE, Johnson MO, Marquez C, Feldman MD. Characteristics of successful and failed mentoring relationships: a qualitative study across two academic health centers. Acad Med. 2013;88(1):82–9.
    Article Google Scholar
  15. Manson, SM. Early-Stage Investigators and Institutional Interface: Importance of Organization in the Mentoring Culture of Today’s Universities (this special issue).
  16. Stamp N, Tan-Wilson A, Silva A. Preparing graduate students and undergraduates for interdisciplinary research. Bioscience. 2015;65:431–9.
    Article Google Scholar
  17. Balster N, Pfund C, Rediske R, Brnachaw J. Entering research: a course that creates community and structure for beginning undergraduate researchers in the STEM disciplines. CBE-LSE. 2010;9:108–18.
    PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
  18. Lee SP, McGee R, Pfund C, Branchaw J. Mentoring up: learning to manage your mentoring relationships. In: Wright G, editor. The mentoring continuum: from graduate school through tenure. Syracuse: The Graduate School Press; 2015.
    Google Scholar
  19. NIH requires IDP. http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-14-113.html. Accessed 9 March 2016.
  20. MyIDP. http://myidp.sciencecareers.org/. Accessed 9 March 2016.
  21. http://biomedicalresearchworkforce.nih.gov/establish-a-grant-program.htm. Accessed 9 March 2016.
  22. Fuhrmann C, Halme D, O’Sullivan P, Lindstaedt B. Improving graduate education to support a branching career pipeline: recommendations based on a survey of doctoral students in the basic biomedical sciences. CBE Life Sci Educ. 2011;10:239–49.
    Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
  23. Sauermann H, Roach M. Science PhD career preferences: levels, changes and advisor encouragement. PloS One. 2012;7:0026307.
    Article Google Scholar
  24. Gibbs KD, Griffin KA. What do I want to be with my PhD? The roles of personal values and structural dynamics in shaping the career interests of recent biomedical science PhD graduates. CBE Life Sci Educ. 2013;2013(12):711–23.
    Google Scholar
  25. Gibbs KD, McGready J, Bennett JC, Griffin K. Biomedical science Ph.D. career interest patterns by race/ethnicity and gender. PloS One. 2014;9:0114736.
    Article Google Scholar
  26. Gibbs KD, McGready J, Griffin K. Career development among american biomedical postdocs. CBE-LSE. 2015;14:1–12.
    Google Scholar
  27. Lave J, Wenger E. Situated learning: legitimate peripheral participation. New York: Cambridge University Press; 1991.
    Book Google Scholar
  28. Wenger E. Communities of practice: learning, meaning and identity. New York: Cambridge University Press; 1998.
    Book Google Scholar
  29. Wenger E. Communities of practice and social learning systems. Organization. 2000;7(2):225–46.
    Article Google Scholar
  30. Thiry H, Laursen SL. The role of student-advisor interactions in apprenticing undergraduate researchers into a scientific community of practice. J Sci Educ Technol. 2011;20:771–84.
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  31. Byars-Winston A, Gutierrez B, Topp S, Carnes M. Integrating theory and practice to increase scientific workforce diversity: a framework for career development in graduate research training. CBE-LSE. 2011;10:357–67.
    PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
  32. Malone Kareen Ror, Barabino Gilda. Narrations of race in STEM research settings: identity formation and its discontents. Sci Educ. 2009;93(3):485–510.
    Article Google Scholar
  33. Carlone HB, Johnson A. Understanding the science experiences of successful women of color: science identity as an analytic lens. J Res Sci Teach. 2007;44(8):1187–218.
    Article Google Scholar
  34. Seymour E, Hewitt N. Talking about leaving. Boulder: Westview Press; 1997.
    Google Scholar
  35. Johnson A, Brown J, Carlone H, Cuevas AK. Authoring identity amidst the treacherous terrain of science: a multiracial feminist examination of the journeys of three women of color in science. J Res Sci Teach. 2011;48(4):339–66.
    Article Google Scholar
  36. Ong M. Body projects of young women of color in physics: intersections of gender, race, and science. Soc Probl. 2005;52(4):593–617.
    Article Google Scholar
  37. Brown BA. Discursive identity: assimilation into the culture of science and its implications for minority students. J Res Sci Teach. 2004;41(8):810–34.
    Article Google Scholar
  38. Steele CM. A threat in the air: how stereotypes shape intellectual identity and performance. Am Psychol. 1997;52(6):613–29.
    Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar
  39. Steele CM. Whistling Vivaldi. New York: W.W. Norton & Company; 2010.
    Google Scholar
  40. Steele CM, Aronson JA. Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1995;69(5):797–811.
    Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar
  41. Smith WA, Allen WR, Danley LL. “Assume the position…you fit the description” psychosocial experiences and racial battle fatigue among African American male college students. Am Behav Sci. 2007;51(4):551–78.
    Article Google Scholar
  42. Whitfield KE, Edwards CL. Mentoring special populations. Educ Gerontol. 2011;37(5):422–39.
    Article Google Scholar
  43. Thakore BK, Naffziger-Hirsch ME, Richardson JL, Williams SN, McGee R. The Academy for Future Science Faculty: randomized controlled trial of theory-driven coaching to shape development and diversity of early-career scientists. BMC Med Ed. 2014;14:160.
    Article Google Scholar
  44. Williams SN, Thakore BK, McGee R. Coaching to augment mentoring to achieve faculty diversity: a randomized controlled trial. Acad Med. 2015. (ePub ahead of print http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Abstract/publishahead/Coaching_to_Augment_Mentoring_to_Achieve_Faculty.98613.aspx).
  45. National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN) http://nrmnet.net/. Accessed 9 March 2016.

Download references

Acknowledgments

Support for this work has been provided by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including: R01 GM85385, R01 GM085385-02S1 (ARRA), R01 NR011987, DP4 GM096807 (ARRA), R01 GM107701, and the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN) through U54 MD009479. I would like to gratefully acknowledge invaluable conversations with all of the current and past members of our Scientific Careers Research and Development Group at Northwestern. Collaborations and discussions with other colleagues have also contributed greatly, including Dr. Christine Pfund, Dr. Steven P. Lee, Dr. Angela Byars-Winston and Dr. Janet Branchaw.

Funding

The studies of the author that are referenced were funded by: R01 GM85385, R01 GM085385-02S1 (ARRA), R01 NR011987, DP4 GM096807 (ARRA), R01 GM107701, and U54 MD009479 (NRMN).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Associate Dean for Professional Development, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 420 E. Superior Ave, Rubloff 6-647, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA
    Richard McGee

Corresponding author

Correspondence toRichard McGee.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The author declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of Northwestern University, and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Animal Rights

This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by the author.

Rights and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

McGee, R. “Biomedical Workforce Diversity: The Context for Mentoring to Develop Talents and Foster Success Within the ‘Pipeline’”.AIDS Behav 20 (Suppl 2), 231–237 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-016-1486-7

Download citation

Keywords