Mentoring the Mentors: Just because you have the title doesn't Mean you know what you are doing

The benefits of mentoring are well documented (Buddeberg-Fischer, 2006; Kasworm, 2010). Every industry has mentors and protégés who seek mentors who achieved their aspirations. But what training do our mentors have in effective mentorship? Recognizing that it is never too early to learn, yet often overlooked, the Weill Cornell/Rockefeller/Sloan-Kettering Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program created a mentor-training program for its MD-PhD students. Since 1997, MD-PhD students served as Big Brothers/Sisters to the Gateways to the Laboratory Summer Program for undergraduates, a summer program run by the Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program. The student mentors were taught effective mentoring techniques and the value of working with other mentors to develop ideas and creatively solve issues their mentees are facing. They learned how to get to the root of their protégés concerns and challenges. This is a life long skill that the mentors can use as they develop their own careers as physician-scientists.