The Society of Thoracic Radiology Mentorship Program: A Paradigm for Professional Societies.

Abstract

The Society of Thoracic Radiology (STR) membership enthusiastically embraced the launch of its mentorship program, with peaks in participation and engagement after annual meetings and during the COVID pandemic. The program provides a valuable resource for early to mid-career thoracic radiologists, especially those lacking local resources. This report describes the program's inception and design, and summarizes the program's successes and challenges at 5 years, based on a 2023 mentorship survey. STR mentees, spanning early to mid-career stages, most frequently sought mentorship in career development, graduate medical education, research portfolio development, publishing, cardiac imaging, grant funding, and artificial intelligence. Mentors offered expertise in these areas, plus lung cancer screening, career development, and workplace navigation. The committee prioritized creating dyads based on mutual interest and expertise, achieving mutual top-choice match rates of 70% to 97%. Enduring dyads flourished as the program matured. At 5 years, a survey of participants was fielded. Mentees reported moderate to high program impact on scholarly activities, leadership, networking, clinical service, education, and career satisfaction. Mentors described satisfaction in their roles, highlighting networking, career satisfaction, and the opportunity to influence upcoming generations of cardiothoracic radiologists, thereby impacting the field's future. Most participants expressed high career satisfaction. Descriptive comments further enriched findings. Survey results confirmed that strengthening dyad formation and enhancing mentoring outcomes remain pivotal. Remote mentorship, while valuable, presents challenges-personal connections and contextual familiarity, considered essential to successful mentorship relationships, are typically absent in these settings. Activities to potentially enhance the STR mentorship program are offered.