Contributor: Kristin Boman, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
In academic settings, research mentoring and mentor training has traditionally been focused on faculty and trainees. NORDP collaborated with NIH-funded evidenced-based Center for Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER) to adapt the Enter Mentoring curricula for research development professionals. Since then, 100 + NORDP members (7% of members) through six cohorts have participated in mentor training for research development (RD) professionals offered by the NORDP Mentoring Committee.
The RD mentor training curricula is being adapted further for research professionals, i.e. program managers, clinical research coordinators, regulatory and compliance officers, etc. in collaboration with personnel from the University of Minnesota’s (UMN) Department of Family Medicine and Community Health and Clinical and Translational Science Institute, Loyola University Chicago and CIMER. Once the curricula adaption is completed, it will be beta tested, assessed, and disseminated (see figure below).
One of the NORDP Mentoring Committee‘s goals is to contribute to the national scholarly discussion of mentoring and bring knowledge of the state-of-the-art in the science of mentoring to NORDP. With support from NORDP Mentoring Committee, UMN, and CIMER travel awards, Kristin Boman presented a poster on staff mentor training at the 2024 Association for Clinical and Translational Science (ACTS) meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, April 3-5, 2024. Boman co-chairs the NORDP Mentor Training Team with Dr. Paula Carney and leads the UMN Primary Care Practice Based Research Network. The poster generated interest from training and workforce development leaders at several universities; in fact, conversations have begun about potential dissemination pathways.
Several members of the NORDP Mentor Training Team have laid the groundwork for this initiative by volunteering their time and skills, especially Paula Carney, Kathy Partlow and Jan Abramson who led the initial training adaptation for RDs. The most recent cohort was highlighted in a recent blog post. Feedback from NORDP participants has also been instrumental for continual improvements to the training curricula. The next NORDP Mentor Training Workshop is anticipated to launch in early 2025.For more information on the NORDP Mentoring Committee, including how to become involved, please contact the Mentoring Committee via mentorprogram@nordp.org. You can also visit the mentoring tag on NORDP news for any program updates.
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