TY - JOUR
T1 - NRMNet
T2 - Building a national resource for mentorship, networking and professional development to enhance diversity
AU - Javier, Damaris
AU - Stinson, Katie
AU - Zavala, Maria Elena
AU - Ahmed, Toufeeq
AU - Vishwanatha, Jamboor K.
N1 - Funding Information:
Intervention: As part of the DPC initia tive, the NIH funded the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN), which aimed to increase diversity of the biomedical research workforce through culturally responsive mentorship, networking, and professional development. In 2015, the NRMNet portal was developed to provide a broad-based network of mentors who are accessible to diverse mentees across the country. The portal also provides networking and professional development resources that support mentee transitions from one career stage to the next.
Funding Information:
The NRMN Career Development Webinar (CDW) Series explores the challenges and importance of find ing a mentor within the biophysical community, the role of mentoring for URM, and the resources in NRMN. NRMN hosts a monthly webinar to guide individuals through the re sources available to both NRMN members and non-members. The goal of these monthly webinars is to develop a community and to expose upcoming researchers and scholars to new opportunities and perspectives to increase diversity in the biomedical fields. We partner with organizations and professionals to provide content relevant to mentorship, diversity, and STEM. All webinars are available at no cost on NRMNet. NRMN also created and implemented professional development and grantsmanship coaching to support grant funding success of URM scholars. Associated details regarding the NRMN grantsmanship programs and outcomes can be found in the literature.10,17,18
Funding Information:
The authors wish to acknowledge the support of the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences program officers as well as the tremendous contributions of the past and present NRMN team who participated in the development and continuous improvement of NRMNet and its programs. The authors would also like to thank Alexis Short for her contributions as the NRMN Digital Communication Strategist. Further, the authors would like to thank all NRMN Ambassadors who participated in bringing mentors and mentees to the NRMN network. Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number U54GM119023 and U24GM132217. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Ethnicity and Disease, Inc.. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Background: To address the need for diversifying the biomedical research workforce, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) established the Diversity Program Consortium (DPC) with the goal of developing, implementing, assessing, and disseminating interventions and programs to enhance the participation and persistence of individuals from underrepresented backgrounds in biomedical research careers. Intervention: As part of the DPC initiative, the NIH funded the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN), which aimed to increase diversity of the biomedical research workforce through culturally responsive mentorship, networking, and professional development. In 2015, the NRMNet portal was developed to provide a broad-based network of mentors who are accessible to diverse mentees across the country. The portal also provides networking and professional development resources that support mentee transitions from one career stage to the next. Results: NRMNet is the gateway for career stage-specific mentorship, networking, resources, and professional development programs for trainees across the biomedical, behavioral, clinical, and social sciences. In the first five years, the NRMN strategic recruitment efforts resulted in an expanded network of nearly 13,000 diverse mentors and mentees with NRMN representation in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Consistently, over the first five years, racial and ethnic diversity was reflected in composition of mentee and mentor groups: 66% of 6,526 mentees and 33% of 3,866 mentors were from underrepresented groups. Conclusions: The NRMNet portal is a promising effort for enhancing participation and continued engagement of undrerepresented individuals in biomedical research careers by providing culturally responsive mentorship, networking, and professional development for individuals at all career stages.
AB - Background: To address the need for diversifying the biomedical research workforce, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) established the Diversity Program Consortium (DPC) with the goal of developing, implementing, assessing, and disseminating interventions and programs to enhance the participation and persistence of individuals from underrepresented backgrounds in biomedical research careers. Intervention: As part of the DPC initiative, the NIH funded the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN), which aimed to increase diversity of the biomedical research workforce through culturally responsive mentorship, networking, and professional development. In 2015, the NRMNet portal was developed to provide a broad-based network of mentors who are accessible to diverse mentees across the country. The portal also provides networking and professional development resources that support mentee transitions from one career stage to the next. Results: NRMNet is the gateway for career stage-specific mentorship, networking, resources, and professional development programs for trainees across the biomedical, behavioral, clinical, and social sciences. In the first five years, the NRMN strategic recruitment efforts resulted in an expanded network of nearly 13,000 diverse mentors and mentees with NRMN representation in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Consistently, over the first five years, racial and ethnic diversity was reflected in composition of mentee and mentor groups: 66% of 6,526 mentees and 33% of 3,866 mentors were from underrepresented groups. Conclusions: The NRMNet portal is a promising effort for enhancing participation and continued engagement of undrerepresented individuals in biomedical research careers by providing culturally responsive mentorship, networking, and professional development for individuals at all career stages.
KW - Biomedical research
KW - Culturally responsive
KW - Mentorship
KW - Networking
KW - Online mentoring
KW - Professional development
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85111570605&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.18865/ed.31.3.469
DO - 10.18865/ed.31.3.469
M3 - Article
C2 - 34295135
AN - SCOPUS:85111570605
SN - 1049-510X
VL - 31
SP - 469
EP - 480
JO - Ethnicity and Disease
JF - Ethnicity and Disease
IS - 3
ER -