The Two-Way Street: How to Mentor Effectively and Get the Most Out of Mentorship – Co-sponsored by the Geisel Academy of Educators and Scholars

This session explores effective mentoring in academic medicine and its impact on career development, satisfaction, and retention. Participants will examine common barriers, including time constraints, unclear expectations, and limited availability of senior faculty, and identify strategies to strengthen mentor-mentee relationships. Emphasis is placed on mentee-driven partnerships, clear communication, goal-setting, and active engagement by both mentors and mentees. Participants will learn approaches for clarifying goals, providing meaningful guidance, addressing self-limiting beliefs, and supporting the whole person. The session highlights the importance of celebrating progress and regularly reassessing mentoring relationships as needs evolve.

Presenters

Dr. Julia Frew is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Obstetrics & Gynecology as well as the Vice Chair for Education in Psychiatry and Associate Director of the Adult Psychiatry Residency Program. A Dartmouth-trained psychiatrist, she has played a significant role in medical education across undergraduate, residency, and fellowship training, while also contributing nationally through leadership in the National Curriculum in Reproductive Psychiatry. She currently leads the New Hampshire Behavioral Health Workforce Initiative to expand behavioral health training opportunities and is committed to fostering professional growth through mentorship.

Dr. Heather Vestal is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and a practicing psychiatrist. She has held numerous medical education leadership roles, including Clerkship Director, Associate Program Director, and Residency Program Director at institutions including Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital and Duke University Medical Center. She has received multiple local and national awards recognizing her excellence in teaching and mentorship. Since joining Dartmouth in 2025, Dr. Vestal has led the development of a mentorship program for early career psychiatry faculty. She also directs the Dartmouth Psychiatry Residency Clinician Educator Program and serves as both a Learning Collaboratives Clinical Mentor and an On Doctoring Facilitator for Geisel medical students.

Download slides HERE.

Download Case Vignettes HERE.

Download the Handout HERE.

1. Identify common barriers to effective mentoring relationships.
2. Apply strategies that mentors and mentees can use to build more effective mentoring relationships.
3. Commit to incorporating one mentoring best practice into their own mentoring relationships.

In support of improving patient care, Dartmouth Health is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team. 

American Medical Association (AMA)
Dartmouth Health designates this Enduring Material for a maximum of 0.75 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. 

All other learners may claim CME-designated participation credit. Consult your professional licensing board regarding the applicability and acceptance of CME-designated participation credit for programs certified for credit by organizations accredited by Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Education.

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Bibliographic Sources

• Ramani S, Kusurkar RA, Lyon-Maris J, Pyörälä E, Rogers GD, Samarasekera DD, Taylor DCM, ten Cate O. Mentorship in health professions education – an AMEE guide for mentors and mentees: AMEE Guide No. 167. Med Teach. 2024;46(8):999–1011. https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159X.2023.2273217

• Bickel J, Rosenthal SL. Difficult issues in mentoring: recommendations on making the “undiscussable” discussable. Acad Med. 2011;86(10):1229–1234. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0b013e31822c0df7

• Ocobock C, Niclou A, Loewen T, Arslanian K, Gibson R, Valeggia C. Demystifying mentorship: tips for successfully navigating the mentor–mentee journey. Am J Hum Biol. 2022;34(S1):e23690. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23690

• Ayyala MS, Skarupski K, Bodurtha JN, González-Fernández M, Ishii LE, Fivush B, Levine RB. Mentorship is not enough: exploring sponsorship and its role in career advancement in academic medicine. Acad Med. 2019;94(1):94–100. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000002398

• Zerzan JT, Hess R, Schur E, Phillips RS, Rigotti NA. Making the most of mentors: a guide for mentees. Acad Med. 2009;84(1):140–144. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0b013e3181906e8f

• Manuel SP, Poorsattar SP. Mentoring up: twelve tips for successfully employing a mentee-driven approach to mentoring relationships. Med Teach. 2021;43(4):384–387. doi:10.1080/0142159X.2020.1795098

• Binkley PF, Brod HC. Mentorship in an academic medical center. Am J Med. 2013;126(11):1022–5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2013.07.016

• Choi AMK, Moon JE, Steinecke A, Prescott JE. Developing a culture of mentorship to strengthen academic medical centers. Acad Med. 2019;94(5):630–633. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000002498

• Cross M, Lee S, Bridgman H, Thapa DK, Cleary M, Kornhaber R. Benefits, barriers and enablers of mentoring female health academics: an integrative review. PLoS One. 2019;14(4):e0215319. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0215319

• Efstathiou JA, Drumm MR, Paly JP, Lawton DM, O’Neill RM, Niemierko A, Leffert LR, Loeffler JS, Shih HA. Long-term impact of a faculty mentoring program in academic medicine. PLoS One. 2018;13(11):e0207634. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0207634

• Esplen MJ, Fiksenbaum LM, Lin E, Darani SA, Teshima J, Vigod SN, Kozloff N, Szatmari P, Lanctôt KL, Ho C, Silver I, Soklaridis S, Wong J. Identifying the mentorship needs among faculty in a large department of psychiatry – support for the creation of a formal mentorship program. BMC Med Educ. 2025;25(1):47. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-06629-y

• Farkas AH, Bonifacino E, Turner R, Tilstra SA, Corbelli JA. Mentorship of women in academic medicine: a systematic review. J Gen Intern Med. 2019;34(7):1322–1329. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-019-04955-2

• Fishman JA. Mentorship in academic medicine: competitive advantage while reducing burnout? Health Sci Rev. 2021;1:100004. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hsr.2021.100004

• Geraci SA, Thigpen SC. A review of mentoring in academic medicine. Am J Med Sci. 2017;353(2):151–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjms.2016.12.002

Provider Contact Information
Provider contact information for questions regarding accreditation of the activity:

Center for Learning and Professional Development
ACE Office
Dartmouth Health
[email protected]

Mitigation of Relevant Financial Relationships

Dartmouth Health adheres to the ACCME’s Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education.  Any individuals in a position to control the content of a CE activity, including planners, faculty, authors, or others are required to disclose all financial relationships with ineligible companies^.  All relevant financial relationships have been mitigated prior to the commencement of the activity.

^Ineligible Company is any entity whose primary business purpose is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.