Mentor Program
Mentor Program
Director Resident Mentorship Program |
The Neurology Resident Mentoring Program at the University of Rochester is a longitudinal 4-year experience that focuses on guiding residents in 4 key areas:
- Fellowship and career decisions
- Structured development of a scholarship project
- Defining personal and professional career goals
- Developing leadership skills
YEAR ONE
Residents receive individual and tailored mentorship during the first year by the mentorship director. Later in the year, residents identify goals, career and scholarly interests, and mentorship needs, and meet with the mentorship director to discuss. Residents are then paired with primary mentor by the end of their PGY1 year. The role of their primary mentor is to provide guidance and sponsorship throughout residency, aid with goal setting and implementation, and support wellness needs. Although these mentors may also serve a research, content, and/or subspecialty mentor, these roles are typically filled by additional mentors. The mentor-mentee social event occurs in the spring annually for all mentor-mentee pairs.
YEAR TWO
Mentor-mentee pairs meet at least tri-annually to discuss progress, career goals and interests, elective selections, and scholarship projects. Toward the end of this year, mentors begin to work with mentees to begin planning for fellowship applications. Other content, project, and/or subspecialty mentors are identified. Formal updates are provided by faculty mentors.
YEAR THREE
Mentor-mentee pairs continue to meet at least tri-annually to update on the fellowship process, discuss future career plans, and implementing scholarship projects. Barriers to future success are also addressed. Additional content, project, and/or subspecialty mentors are identified to bolster the mentorship team as needed. Formal updates are provided by faculty members.
YEAR FOUR
Residents are encouraged to continue their scholarship work but are also expected to become more independent and create their own timelines. Mentor-mentee pairs continue to meet regularly. The primary focus of this year is leadership and career development, with a curriculum that culminates in creation of a structured academic development plan that the resident will initiate after completion of residency and the development and implementation of a chief resident group leadership project. The chief leadership project is determined by the chief residents and consists of identifying objectives, creating an action plan, addressing barriers, implementing the project, and assessing outcomes.
LEADERSHIP CURRICULUM
In addition to working towards career goals in years two through four, there is a longitudinal, inclusive, core leadership program. The curriculum is focused on developing leadership skills through improving emotional intelligence and communication skills, along with defining core values and understanding strengths in order to define and achieve goals. Topics addressed are listed below:
- Defining leadership, including at the system level
- Understanding your emotional intelligence
- Exploration of strengths
- Identifying, clarifying, and prioritizing your values and purpose
- Determining your personal mission and vision
- Cultivating purposeful mentorship
- Identifying personal communication styles
- Conflict resolution
- Coaching peers and providing constructive feedback
- Effective negotiations
- Leading effective meetings
- Professionalism
- Building and leading high-functioning teams
- Understanding healthcare systems, finance, and policy
- Identifying short-term goals that will lead to success
- Developing long-term goals: deciding what you want to do with your life
- The work of becoming a leader
RESEARCH MENTORSHIP
In addition to working towards career goals in years two through four, there is also a focus on developing and implementing a structured and guided scholarship project to present at the annual Schwid Resident, Fellow and Student Research Symposium, and ideally submit as a manuscript and/or poster at a national level over the course of residency. This process is guided not only by general and research mentors, but also takes advantage of the breadth of research expertise of our diverse faculty. Residents participate in a longitudinal research curriculum integrated within the academic half day, in which they will discuss development of their projects, learn new skills, and identify resources for completing their scholarly activities. This curriculum covers the following topics:
YEAR TWO
- Finding your project and mentor
- Development of a research question
- Reviewing the literature on your topic
- Study design
- Research methods
- Proposal presentations and critiques
YEAR THREE
- IRB guidance
- Data collection
YEAR FOUR
- Statistical methods for data analysis
- Writing an abstract
- Creating a poster
- Presenting your work
- Writing a manuscript
Our structured general and research mentoring program for residents is one of the most unique and valued components of our residency!