LSUHSC COBRE: CORE 3: FACULTY DEVELOPMENT CORE

这个子项目是众多研究子项目之一

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Career Development Core The specific aim of the Career Development Core is to support mentors and mentees at the Center for Translational Immunobiology by instituting, monitoring and evaluating mentoring, curricular activities, and individualized career development plans for promising junior investigators (PJIs) Specific Objectives Objective 1: Implement and evaluate a mentoring program for nine junior investigators and their mentors. This program includes three levels of mentoring: peer review, scientific and career mentoring. Objective 2: Implement, monitor and evaluate the progress of individualized Career Development Plans for nine junior investigators. These career plans include specific targets, measurable outcomes and periodic evaluation. Objective 3: Implement and evaluate an ongoing faculty development curriculum for nine junior investigators that includes a core set of competencies in the areas of research, administration, communication, education, leadership and cultural competence. Progress Report: Two peer mentoring activities per month were held every month during this reporting period. The original plan was to hold a 2-hour peer mentoring activity twice per month, the first hour being devoted to a Work-in-Progress and the second hour to the Journal Club. In order to increase the frequency of Work-in-Progress reporting by individual PJIs, the Journal Club was modified to become a distinctive activity at each PJI lab. All senior advisors and junior faculty in the program attended these sessions. The primary objective of the Work-in-Progress session is to showcase the work of one or two of the eight PJIs and obtain feedback from the group. This allows for a 3 to 4-moth turn around for each junior investigator to present. Specific activities for these sessions include: progress on individual scientific projects; discussion of grant proposals and manuscripts; and other topics as deemed necessary by the group. The committee of peers assists in the evaluation of preliminary data, refinement of specific aims and experimental approach, fine-tuning of the elements necessary for a successful grant application, and critical review of grant proposals. The long-term goals of these interactions are to advance the research skills of promising junior scientists so they can successfully compete for peer-reviewed funding such as RO1-type projects and to develop collaborative partnerships that will enhance the fundability of Research Project Grants (RPG) or Program Project Grants (PPG) at the Center. Each Work-in-Progress session was moderated by a senior advisor other than the advisor for the presenter and was evaluated by advisors and junior scientist. The primary goal of the Journal Club activity is to polish the skills of junior faculty enabling them to critically evaluate the scientific literature. At the end of these sessions, all participants complete an evaluation form designed by the Faculty Development Core. Evaluation includes: moderating skills, preparation, ability to conceive hypothesis, research methodology, ability to give and receive feedback, ability to follow up from previous presentations, ability to incorporate relevant suggestions, ability to evaluate and discuss a scientific paper, presentation skills and use of audiovisual aids, if appropriate. Compiled results and comments are shared by all advisors. Each advisor discusses these evaluations with his/her junior mentee. (see Table 2: calendar of curricular activities below) The second level of mentorship is scientific mentoring. This is tailored to each junior faculty member. As described in the application, each junior faculty member is matched with a scientific mentor. The scientific mentor provides day-to-day advice on research methodologies, technical and administrative issues related to running a laboratory and critical feedback on grant proposals, manuscripts and other scientific scholarship. The primary goal of this mentorship is to develop independent researchers that contribute to the thematic research of the Center. The Faculty Development Core has been instrumental in this process. To define, monitor and evaluate mentorship, Core l assists mentors and mentees with structuring activities based on the six phases and behavioral functions of mentoring as described by Cohen. In addition, a record-keeping system has been developed to monitor the mentoring activities and to provide an instrument for the mentor to document time and effort spent, as well as the type of information shared or activities performed. This record keeping has been a component of the mentoring contract. A typical scientific mentoring session may include: 1) research methodology; 2) laboratory management; 3) discussion of manuscripts and proposals; 4) participation in extramural scientific activities; 5) leadership;6) time management and balancing responsibilities; and 7) feedback as required by the PJI. The third level of mentorship is career mentoring and includes teaching and administrative skills, service skills, leadership and academic promotion. Career mentoring is provided by the scientific mentors or by another external mentor as suggested by some of the junior faculty in the program (see external advisory report). The Faculty Development Core facilitates these activities to enhance the overall performance of the PJIs. Each PJI has been matched with a senior individual who assists with issues ranging from balancing research with patient care and teaching, participating in extramural activities, navigating the administrative structure of the institution and preparing for promotion and tenure. It is the career mentors responsibility to provide ongoing feedback, encouragement, identification and use of resources and guidance regarding academic careers. Fortunately, mentoring junior faculty is being considered as an important activity of senior faculty worthy of incentives and recognition. To that end, department chairs have been commanded to institute formal mentorship in their academic units. Therefore, we do not anticipate any obstacles to structured career mentoring. A typical career mentoring session will include the following elements: 1) review and update Individual Career Plan; 2) review and update LSUHSC faculty activity worksheets required for promotion; 3) review C.V. in LSUHSC format, 4) review updated portfolios for promotion as required by the LSUHSC system; 5) leadership; 6) time management and balancing responsibilities; and 7) feedback as required by the mentee. Two instruments are used to monitor and evaluate the mentoring activity. The first tool is the professional growth survey and the second is the mentoring contract. The professional growth survey is a needs assessment obtained from each mentee to evaluate strengths, weaknesses, perceived support, and needs for mentoring. Recognizing that there are gender differences in self perceived competencies, the professional growth survey was fine-tuned to detect such differences. The mentoring contract is simple and includes a formal commitment in terms of time, frequency of meetings, and documentation of activities. More importantly, the mentoring contract has the signatures of the mentor, the mentee, and department chairs for the mentee creating sustainability and accountability. (see report on evaluation).