UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER

Our goal is to conduct a randomized trial investigating the role of two different types of trainee and faculty mentoring in the promotion of resilience among underrepresented minorities including differently abled/disabled persons in biomedical research careers. Lack of quality mentorship, a sense of isolation and a 'hostile' environment are common barriers to success for women and underrepresented minorities at all career levels. However, good mentorship, a strong social network and clarity of internal goals have been associated with resilience among minority researchers. Therefore, we hypothesize that an educational intervention, aimed at the research mentors, and the formation of virtual peer mentoring groups will advance the careers of minority and women faculty members by mediating the barriers and impediments in the workplace environment at three Upstate New York Medical Centers: University of Rochester Medical Center, State University of New York (SUNY) - Buffalo and SUNY-Upstate Medical Center-Syracuse. We believe that these combined interventions will improve the likelihood of success of minorities and women in biomedical research through positive perceptions of self and acquired attitudes and behaviors needed to secure success within medical research institutions. Subjects will be randomly assigned to: 1) Mentor education (Social Determination Theory), 2) Virtual peer mentoring, or 3) Both mentor education (SDT) and virtual peer mentoring, or 4) Usual practice/control. The primary endpoints for this funding period across all four study groups will be comparisons of: 1) pre and post-tests of trainees' psychological needs assessment on a standardized test adapted for the workplace 2) productivity (thesis completion, publications, grants submitted) and 3) career trajectories. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Our goal is to conduct a randomized trial to study the role of two different types of trainee and faculty mentoring in the promotion of resilience among underrepresented minorities (including disabled persons) in biomedical research careers at three Upstate New York Medical Centers: University of Rochester Medical Center, State University of New York (SUNY) - Buffalo and SUNY-Upstate Medical Center-Syracuse. We will compare a mentoring educational intervention alone and in combination with a virtual peer mentoring group to a control group. The main outcomes will be comparisons of: 1) pre and post-tests of trainees' psychological needs assessment on a standardized test adapted for the workplace and 2) productivity (thesis completion, publications, grants submitted).

Clarification of Codes