March 30, 2007

Mentoring minority students

Late last year, the MGH Multicultural Affairs Office (MAO) added an exciting venture to its lengthy list of initiatives — the Underrepresented in Medicine Medical Student Mentorship Program (URM MSMP) for minority students at Harvard Medical School (HMS). The program aims to provide professional and social guidance and support to these students during the early stages of their careers at HMS and is jointly sponsored by the MAO and the HMS Office of Recruitment and Multicultural Affairs. Celina Garza Mankey, MD, is the director.

The roots of the new program lie in the HMS Black Health Organization Mentorship Program and the MGH Hispanic Medical Student Mentorship Program (HMSMP) founded by Ernesto Gonzalez, MD, of MGH Dermatology, which joined together to form the URM MSMP. During its first few months, more than 70 HMS students and faculty members from HMS-affiliated hospitals have been matched into mentorship pairs. Throughout the year, students also are invited to participate in a group mentorship series, which covers topics such as finding a research interest, choosing a specialty and creating a network of professional colleagues.

Many MGHers are already familiar with the benefits of a mentorship program such as
the URM MSMP. Maria Alexander-Bridges, MD, PhD, of the MGH Diabetes Research Labs, has served as a mentor to HMS student José O. Aleman for the past three years through the HMSMP. "Early in my career, I had many conversations that pinpointed the importance of mentoring relationships in keeping highly valued but underrepresented minority faculty members at HMS and its affiliated hospitals," she says. "I thought the idea of instituting a formal program that links the physician/researcher with a student early in their careers was an excellent idea, and I was very proud to be asked to serve as a mentor." Aleman agrees. "In my initial
meeting with Maria, I was struck by the foresight of the program organizers in this mentoring assignment," he says. "She had already traveled the path from student to a professorship at HMS and could act as a guide through these early stages of my career."

To apply to the URM MSMP as a mentor or mentee, visit www.mgh.harvard.edu/mao/urmmsmp.html. For more information, e-mail Mankey at cgarza@partners.org.