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Mentoring by Design: Integrating Medical Professional Competencies into Bioengineering and Medical Physics Graduate Training

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Abstract

Many students in bioengineering and medical physics doctoral programs plan careers in translational research. However, while such students generally have strong quantitative abilities, they often lack experience with the culture, communication norms, and practice of bedside medicine. This may limit students’ ability to function as members of multidisciplinary translational research teams. To improve students’ preparation for careers in cancer translational research, we developed and implemented a mentoring program that is integrated with students’ doctoral studies and aims to promote competencies in communication, biomedical ethics, teamwork, altruism, multiculturalism, and accountability. Throughout the program, patient-centered approaches and professional competencies are presented as foundational to optimal clinical care and integral to translational research. Mentoring is conducted by senior biomedical faculty and administrators and includes didactic teaching, online learning, laboratory mini-courses, clinical practicums, and multidisciplinary patient planning conferences (year 1); student development and facilitation of problem-based patient cases (year 2); and individualized mentoring based on research problems and progress toward degree completion (years 3-5). Each phase includes formative and summative evaluations. Nineteen students entered the program from 2009 through 2011. On periodic anonymous surveys, the most recent in September 2013, students indicated that the program substantially improved their knowledge of cancer biology, cancer medicine, and academic medicine; that the mentors were knowledgeable, good teachers, and dedicated to students; and that the program motivated them to become well-rounded scientists and scholars. We believe this program can be modified and disseminated to other graduate research and professional health care programs.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the following individuals for their contributions to this paper: from Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Dr. Anh-Chi Le for sharing expertise on the Med Into Grad program; from The University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dr. Edward Jackson for sharing expertise on medical physics graduate teaching, research, and mentorship; and from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Dr. Greg Pratt for assistance with searching the mentoring literature, Dr. Fredika Robertson for sharing expertise on biomedical graduate research education, Maura Polansky for sharing expertise on the roles and responsibilities of students in cancer clinics, Erica Goodoff and Stephanie Deming for manuscript editing, Kathleen Wagner for graphical design, Alex Gomez and Steven Rosita for logistical and technical assistance, Martha Skender for sharing expertise on postdoctoral training, Dr. Oliver Bogler for sharing expertise on biomedical education, and Dr. John Hazle, Co-Principal Investigator of the Med Into Grad grant, for sharing expertise on graduate training in medical physics. We thank our Med Into Grad Fellows and their mentors. We thank Howard Hughes Medical Institute for their generous funding of the program.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Academic Affairs, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd, Unit 1730, Houston, TX, 77030, USA

    Kendra V. Woods

  2. Department of Imaging Physics‐Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd, Unit 1472, Houston, TX, 77030, USA

    Kathryn E. Peek

  3. Department of Bioengineering, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, MS-142, Houston, TX, 77030, USA

    Rebecca Richards-Kortum

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  1. Kendra V. Woods
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  2. Kathryn E. Peek
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  3. Rebecca Richards-Kortum
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Correspondence to Kendra V. Woods.

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Woods, K.V., Peek, K.E. & Richards-Kortum, R. Mentoring by Design: Integrating Medical Professional Competencies into Bioengineering and Medical Physics Graduate Training. J Canc Educ 29, 680–688 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-014-0627-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-014-0627-9

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