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Lighting the match: how a student-led career mentorship program can blaze the way for non-academic careers

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Academic institutions can address the demand for multiskilled individuals who will be competitive in the non-academic job market by establishing a strong career mentorship program.

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Fig. 1: Hopkins Biotech Network Mentorship Match Program structure and timeline.
Fig. 2: Demographics of Hopkins Biotech Network Mentorship Match Program and results of mentee feedback surveys.

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Acknowledgements

We thank P. Phelps at the Professional Development and Career Office at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who pioneered the connections with CASSS and developed an initial framework from which this program was adapted. Her ideas, contacts and assistance were invaluable to the development of the current HBN mentorship program. We thank W. T. Cottle for his assistance in early-stage program planning and launch, as well as the other members of the HBN executive board for helping to recruit mentees and spread the word about the program. We also appreciate A. Moreira at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, who helped expand this program beyond Johns Hopkins. On the mentor side of the program, we extend gratitude to all CASSS members who served as mentors, as well as M. Schenerman and S. Flores for their help in growing the mentorship program. Finally, we acknowledge and thank M. Brenowitz.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Anna Bagnell, Alana MacDonald & Peter Espenshade

  2. University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Catonsville, MD, USA

    Mark Schenerman

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  1. Anna Bagnell
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  2. Alana MacDonald
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  3. Peter Espenshade
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  4. Mark Schenerman
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Correspondence to Anna Bagnell.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Bagnell, A., MacDonald, A., Espenshade, P. et al. Lighting the match: how a student-led career mentorship program can blaze the way for non-academic careers. Nat Biotechnol 42, 530–534 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-024-02170-x

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