Utilizing Mentorship Education to Promote a Culturally Responsive Research Training Environment in the Biomedical Sciences

There is an urgent and compelling need for systemic change to achieve diversity and inclusion goals in the biomedical sciences. Since faculty hold great influence in shaping research training environments, faculty development is a key aspect in building institutional capacity to create climates in which persons excluded because of their ethnicity or race (PEERs) can succeed. In this paper, we present a mixed methods case study of one institutions efforts to improve mentorship of PEER doctoral students as a strategy to improve graduate trainees experiences, and as a strategy to positively affect institutional climate with respect to racial and ethnic diversity. We found evidence that our culturally responsive mentorship education increased faculty mentors self-reported mentorship competencies, though their valuing of culturally responsive mentoring behaviors were comparatively higher than their confidence to enact those behaviors. PEER doctoral students reported that they noticed mentors efforts to address cultural diversity matters and identified some guidance for how to approach such topics. We discuss future directions and implications for using mentorship education to activate systemic change toward inclusive research training environments and promoting the value of mentorship within institutions.