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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2026 May 15.
Published in final edited form as: J STEM Educ. 2026 Mar 30;27(1):35–43. doi: 10.63504/jstem.v27i1.2815

Broadening Biomedical Research Workforce Participation through Culturally Responsive Mentoring

Damaris Javier 1,*, Alexis Short 1, Luz Henriquez 1, Rinoj Gautam 1, Theresa Agwuncha 1,2, Jamboor K Vishwanatha 2
PMCID: PMC13175539  NIHMSID: NIHMS2164001  PMID: 42148295

Abstract

The Broadening Biomedical Research Workforce Participation through Culturally Responsive Mentoring conference was held in Fort Worth, Texas, in January 2025, during National Mentoring Month. Effective and culturally responsive mentorship has been noted to support recruitment, engagement, and persistence in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine (STEMM) fields, as well as biomedical research. The conference provided a space to gather, learn, and discuss evidence-based and evidence-informed approaches for conducting mentoring using asset-based and culturally responsive approaches, as well as efforts towards institutionalization of mentorship, to enhance participation in the biomedical workforce and train the next generation of scientists. Over 170 individuals from across the nation attended, including students, mentors, mentees, leaders, staff/administrators, and community members. A human-AI collaborative analysis of session transcripts was used to identify conference themes and actionable strategies. The findings collectively indicate that embedding mentorship into institutional culture, values, policies, and practices, using asset-based approaches, integrating mentorship education and community of practices, and leveraging in-person and virtual mentorship, fosters sustainable change in STEMM and biomedical research. Building on these insights, this article summarizes key discussion points and provides actions, strategies, and resources to promote asset-based, culturally responsive mentorship relationships and the institutionalization of mentorship.

Introduction

Research has established that mentoring, specifically effective and culturally responsive mentoring, can be a powerful strategy for broadening participation and training of the next generation of scientists (Alexander, 2009; Byars-Winston, 2018, 2023; NASEM, 2019, 2023; Pfund et al., 2016). Notwithstanding, mentoring practices tend to be unsystematic and based on deficit-based approaches (NASEM, 2019, 2023). Limited opportunities, such as conferences and workshops, exist for learning practical ways to implement and institutionalize culturally responsive mentoring approaches. The purpose of the Broadening Biomedical Research Workforce Participation through Culturally Responsive Mentoring conference was to impart an integrated understanding of asset-based culturally responsive mentoring approaches that can be used in STEMM and biomedical/behavioral research spaces to enhance participation in the biomedical workforce and train the next generation of scientists. The conference themes were anchored around advancing institutional mentorship practices, grounded in asset-based and culturally responsive approaches, recognizing the impact these approaches have on broadening participation in STEMM and biomedical/behavioral research. The conference and themes were developed in response to the limited number of national conferences that focus on translating culturally responsive mentoring in biomedical research from research to practice, feedback from members of the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN), and in alignment with scholarship around mentorship and broadening participation in STEMM (Javier et al., 2021, 2023; NASEM, 2019, 2023). The conference engaged speakers with expertise in mentorship, asset-based and culturally responsive mentoring approaches, organizational culture and change, and workforce development in STEMM and biomedical research. The event convened a nationwide audience of over 170 attendees, composed of researchers, students, mentors, mentees, leaders, community members, and staff/administration from across the country (Figure 1). Through this article, we aim to summarize the key discussion points of the conference sessions as well as highlight actions and resources curated from the conference to embrace mentorship through an asset-based and culturally responsive approach, including actions to support efforts towards institutionalization of mentorship.

Figure 1.

Figure 1.

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Geographical Distribution of Conference Attendees.

Methods

With the considerable amount of interaction between humans and Artificial Intelligence (AI) for research, herein we recognize AI as an additional member of the analysis team. For this article, we used “human-AI collaboration” to strengthen knowledge building and sensemaking as recommended by Lee and colleagues (2024) (p.1). Specifically, we utilized AI to extract and analyze the content of each of the conference sessions. Each conference session was recorded during the actual conference, and then the recording was transcribed utilizing Verbit (https://verbit.ai/). ChatGPT-4o (https://chatgpt.com/) was utilized to summarize the main ideas and key points from each session by inputting each session transcript or notes. We drafted effective prompts providing the context of the conference, the constraints, and the required elements in the output. This process was essential as prompt engineering is critical for guiding a Large Language Model (LLM) to produce the accurate, reliable, and desired output (Ekin, 2023). The use of transcription tools and AI helps save time and enables the authors to focus on the depth of the analysis, but it is necessary to have humans review the generated summary to ensure it captures the relevant points. To enhance trustworthiness, each AI output was reviewed and paraphrased by the author who had verified the transcript for that specific session. Additionally, this process helped ensure that the AI-generated data were interpreted within the broader conference context rather than being limited to the perspective of the single transcript (Lee, 2024). Each summary was then shared with the speakers for member checking, ensuring accurate representation of their presentation, enhancing credibility (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016; Saldaña, 2021).

Results

Keynote Address

The keynote address was presented by Lawrence Tabak, DDS, PhD, former Principal Deputy Director at the National Institute of Health (NIH). Dr. Tabak’s presentation highlighted the importance of creating an inclusive biomedical research community by involving a variety of individuals and institutions throughout the United States. Through recounting personal experience, he emphasized the importance of mentorship and support networks as well as their role in influencing scientific careers. Additionally, Dr. Tabak discussed important NIH initiatives to foster workforce development, including the Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) programs, the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN), and the Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Consortium to Advance Health Equity and Researcher Diversity (AIM-AHEAD) program. Dr. Tabak detailed NIH’s extensive career support system and strategies for fair funding, while encouraging institutions to sustain their efforts in mentoring and broadening participation. Dr. Tabak wrapped up with key lessons from his own experiences, advocating for resilience, collaboration, humility, and mentorship as fundamental values in research leadership.

Asset-Based and Culturally Responsive Mentorship Approaches in STEMM Research

Dr. Steven P. (Hyun Sok) Lee serves as the Assistant Dean of Inclusion at Stanford University’s School of Humanities and Sciences, and a Principal Facilitator with the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER). Dr. Lee led the session “Reframing Barriers and Strategies to Promote Equity and Inclusion in STEMM Research.” Dr. Lee noted that as we seek equity and inclusion in STEMM research, we face many barriers and pitfalls, such as deficit-based approaches to diversity, disproportionately focusing on fixing individuals instead of the systems, and the gap between our understanding of the science of effective mentorship and the actual practice of mentorship in science. Dr. Lee proposed a framework of paying attention to the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and systemic tiers of challenges and interventions, and ensuring that the intervention actually matches the specific challenge. Dr. Lee encouraged paying particular attention to the systemic tier, as systems and cultures are often hidden, interwoven, and even paradoxical in nature. Examples of significant systems and cultures include an emphasis on independence (as revealed by Nicole Stephens’ studies on this cultural mismatch with first-generation students’ values for interdependence, especially at top-tier institutions), along with rationalizations for diversity that continue to favor those already in power and negatively impact Black/African American communities (as demonstrated by Jordan Stark’s differentiation between instrumental vs. moral rationales for diversity).

Gabriela Chavira, PhD, Professor and Director, Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR), California State University, Northridge (CSUN), led a presentation titled “Asset-Based Mentorship Frameworks and Approaches.” Dr. Chavira emphasized the importance of providing culturally responsive mentorship to historically marginalized students in biomedical research, with a focus on equity, empowerment, and social justice. Dr. Chavira distinguished critical mentoring pedagogy, which considers the lived experiences of students and encourages independence while challenging power imbalances, from traditional mentoring models. Dr. Chavira illustrated environments created by mentors where mentees thrive rather than survive, valuing students’ unique cultural backgrounds, experiences, and strengths. Through examples implemented in the Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) Promoting Opportunities for Diversity in Education and Research (PODER) (BUILD-PODER) training program, Dr. Chavira highlighted asset-based practices, including creating an inclusive office space design, inclusive marketing materials, curriculum that embraces students’ lived experiences, critical mentoring pedagogy, and mentorship as a collaborative and reciprocal relationship.

Rick McGee, PhD, Associate Dean for Professional Development at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, presented a session titled “Culturally Responsive Approaches and Implications.” In this session, Dr. McGee provided an overview of the Culturally Aware Mentorship (CAM) workshop and the recently completed randomized trial of CAM in a virtual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Showcasing that the virtual delivery replicates many of the impacts of in-person delivery, Dr. McGee notes the CAM workshop had a powerful resource to initiate and sustain critically important changes in research mentors’ attitudes, conscience, and behaviors in mentorship relationships.

Implementing Culturally Responsive Mentorship Approaches Across Various Facets

Anne Marie Weber-Main, PhD, Professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine & Director of Mentoring for the Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute at the University of Minnesota, presented a session titled “Empowering Mentorship: Leveraging Online, Asynchronous Resources.” Dr. Weber-Main showcased a selection of evidence-based, freely available, and asynchronous training that can be leveraged to help mentors and mentees enhance their mentoring relationships and support more culturally responsive and inclusive mentoring. Examples of online modules included Optimizing the Practice of Mentoring (Weber-Main et al, 2025) and Enhancing Motivation Using the CARES Mentoring Model offered by the University of Minnesota, Unconscious Bias (Javier et al., 2024), and Advancing Inclusive Mentoring offered by the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN), and Build Your Research Community offered by iBiology. Dr. Weber-Main also highlighted resources, such as the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) (2019) report on the science of effective mentorship in STEMM and university toolkits to support equity-based teaching, that provide mentors with practical strategies to effectively support mentees from diverse backgrounds and promote equitable research environments.

Dr. Kola Okuyemi, MD, Professor and Chair, Department of Family Medicine, OneAmerica Foundation Professor of Preventive Health Medicine, and Associate Dean for Population Health Research at Indiana University, presented “Enhanced Grant Writing Coaching for a Diverse Biomedical Workforce.” In this presentation, Dr. Okuyemi illustrated a research study, Enhanced Grant Writing Coaching Intervention for a Diverse Biomedical Workforce, funded as a NRMN U01 initiative. The study focused on coaching interventions for early-career biomedical researchers, specifically focused on NIH grant proposal preparation. Dr. Okuyemi highlighted preliminary findings showcasing the feasibility of recruiting a national, large, and diverse sample across multiple cohort cycles for group coaching interventions. Additional findings will be included in future publications.

The panel session, “Strengthening Mentorship and Funding Pathways to Broaden Participation in Biomedical Research,” was moderated by Jaime Rubin, PhD, Vice Chair for Investigator Development at Columbia University. The panelist included: Neeraj Agarwal, PhD, FARVO, Director of Training, National Eye Institute at the NIH, Captain Anthony Johnson, PhD, FACHE, Scientific Advisor and Training Director, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities at the NIH, U.S. Public Health Service, and Alfred Mays, Chief Diversity Officer & Strategist, Senior Program Officer, Burroughs Welcome Fund. The panelists highlighted the importance of sustainable, culturally responsive mentorship in biomedical research as well as shared training-oriented funding opportunities for medical, graduate students, postdocs, clinician scientists, and early-career scientists. They also emphasized the importance of career-guided training and ensuring the sustainability of mentorship programs beyond the scope of federal funding. The audience also engaged in a discussion, highlighting the need for coordination across programs and funding agencies to have a standardized, common assessment of program effectiveness.

Toufeeq Syed, PhD, Associate Professor and Assistant Dean of Education Informatics at McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics at UTHealth Houston & Associate Professor at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, presented a session titled Role of Networking and Virtual Mentorship in Career Development. Through the illustration of the MyNRMN platform, Dr. Syed, co-lead of NRMN, highlighted how individuals can leverage virtual mentorship and networking to advance their careers and navigate career opportunities (Syed et al., 2024). Notably, Dr. Syed highlighted scholarship published by NRMN, noting that network size and activity in online virtual mentorship environment, MyNRMN, may influence higher odds of academic and career transitions (Thompson et al., 2024; Syed et al., 2024). Dr. Syed emphasized the power of virtual mentorship as it extended access beyond the bounds of physical constraints.

Janet Branchaw, PhD, Associate Professor of Kinesiology in the School of Education and the Director of the Wisconsin Institute for Science Education and Community Engagement (WISCIENCE) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, presented on “Assessing Culturally Responsive Training Interventions.” Dr. Branchaw highlighted various attributes of culturally responsive research training environments, including tools to assess the attributes of effective mentoring. Utilizing a new comprehensive research development framework, the audience participated in a backward design activity to build a mini-assessment plan to measure training program intervention effectiveness (Branchaw et al., 2025).

Institutionalizing Culturally Responsive Mentorship

Christine Pfund, PhD, Director for the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research and Deputy Director of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, underlined the importance of advancing culturally responsive mentorship through her presentation “Bridging the Threads Together: Towards Institutionalization of Effective Mentorship.” Dr. Pfund emphasized the need for systemic support within a broader institutional ecosystem across various levels: individual, departmental, and organizational. Guided by the prior conference sessions on day 1, Dr. Pfund pointed out action-oriented strategies for mentees, mentors, program directors, and institutional leaders for effective and evidence-based mentoring (curated and integrated in Table 1). Dr. Pfund concluded her presentation emphasizing leadership commitment, strategic planning, and recognizing the value of mentorship for meaningful change in effective mentorship.

Table 1.

Asset-Based and Culturally Responsive Mentorship: Actions and Strategies Toward Institutionalization

Action Strategies
Embrace Asset-Based & Culturally Responsive Mentorship Approaches

  • Embrace mentees’ strengths, lived experiences, and culture at the institutional level

  • Design inclusive practices, activities, curriculum, spaces, and materials that foster trust and belongingness

  • Focus on systems, not “fixing” individuals

  • Embrace discussions on how identities and lived experiences impact mentees’ research and navigation in STEMM and biomedical research
Capture, Measure & Continuously Improve Mentorship Evaluation and Data

  • Appeal to both the head and heart of the institutional leaders (research data and trainee voices)

  • Utilize validated mentorship tools and identify gaps using valid climate and cultural scales

  • Mentorship evaluation data for holding leaders, faculty, and staff accountable

  • Regular review of participant/mentee/student progress

  • Create opportunities for self-assessment and reflection on mentorship, as well as for assessing mentees’ needs
Funding Agencies as Drivers of Effective Mentorship and Institutional Commitment

  • Invest in the continued research of the science and practice of mentorship, including the science and practice of the institutionalization of mentorship

  • Require mentorship education and planning with funding requirements

  • Develop a standardized common assessment of the effectiveness of programs

  • Support mentorship accountability through funding agency-initiated evaluation
Institutionalize Mentorship by Embracing it as a Core Institutional Value

  • Embrace mentorship as an organization rather than individual/programmatic actions

  • Include mentorship in institutions’ mission and strategic plans

  • Leadership responsibility, accountability, and as champions of mentorship; establishing measurable goals, progress tracking, reporting, and accountability for mentorship

  • Recognize, Value & Reward Mentorship –Policy and Practices

  • Embedding effective mentorship into institutional accreditation standards

  • Provide mentorship education to mentors, mentees, leaders, staff, and administrators & promote the use of evidence-based mentorship tools

  • Build mentorship into workload

  • Institutional investment and commitment for mentorship beyond federal funding

  • Make mentorship information and resources readily available and welcoming

  • Promote and provide opportunities/resources for students, faculty, leaders, and staff/administrators to build mentorship networks

  • Create Mentorship Communities of Practice for mentors, mentees, leaders, staff, and administrators

  • Require and expect utilization of mentorship agreements to align with expectations
Ensure Sustainability of Mentorship

  • Expansion of scalable virtual mentorship networking and mentorship learning communities

  • Expansion of asynchronous/synchronous virtual mentorship education

  • Leverage scalable online mentorship networks and resources

  • Leverage cross-institutional partnerships
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Barbara Aranda-Naranjo, PhD, RN, is the former Provost and a long-time public health leader who delivered a presentation on “Understanding Organizational Culture Change to Institutionalize Culturally Responsive Mentorship: Transforming Student Potential Understanding Organizational Culture and Change to Institutionalize Culturally Responsive Mentorship.” Dr. Aranda-Naranjo focused on the role that cultural identity, systems thinking, and institutional values play in shaping inclusive mentorship practices. Dr. Aranda-Naranjo emphasized the importance of aligning mentorship between students and mentors based on their cultural backgrounds, lived experiences, and community contexts for a more fruitful mentorship experience. Dr. Aranda-Naranjo charged participants with the task of examining institutional structures and broader societal forces that play pivotal roles in influencing mentorship outcomes. Through her presentation, Dr. Aranda-Naranjo illustrated the critical role culturally responsive mentorship plays in building academic centers that foster belonging, long-term success, and resilience for historically marginalized learners and professionals.

Dr. Akshay Sood, MD, MPH, is the Interim Director for Faculty Academic Affairs and Assistant Dean of the University of New Mexico’s Health Sciences Center. Dr. Sood facilitated a presentation titled “Evidence-Based Strategies to Enhance Organizational Mentoring Climate” and discussed how effective faculty mentoring is the top factor for development and retention, especially for historically marginalized individuals. Despite this fact, Dr. Sood highlighted that it is inconsistently practiced and structured across universities and institutions. Dr. Sood elaborated on the need to address imposter syndrome, advocating for developmental networks instead of traditional mentoring models, and utilizing validated tools to evaluate mentoring climate and culture. To exemplify, Dr. Sood discussed a Faculty Extension of Community Health Outcomes (ECHO) initiative that is both practical and transferable. The program successfully demonstrated how to use a scalable, multi-institutional model for mentor training, developmental networking, and cross-cultural communication and collaboration to achieve better organizational and individual mentorship outcomes (Shore et al., 2023; Smart et al., 2025; Sood et al, 2024, 2025; Tigges et al, 2020). In closing the presentation, Dr. Sood encouraged participants to create strategic, data-informed plans for their institutions and emphasized the importance of leadership and self-motivation in maintaining a mentoring culture.

A panel titled “Institutionalizing Culturally Responsive Mentorship” was moderated by Christine Sorkness, PharmD, Distinguished Professor of Pharmacy and Medicine, University of Wisconsin – Madison. The panel was composed by the following individuals: Nana Kofi Kusi-Boadum, PharmD, 4th year PhD Candidate at the UNT Health Fort Worth; Charles Taylor, PharmD, FNAP, Former Provost and Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs at UNT Health Fort Worth; MariaElena Zavala, PhD, Professor of Biology at California State University, Northridge; Rick McGee, PhD, Associate Dean For Professional Development, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine; and Janet Branchaw, PhD, Associate Professor & Faculty Director, University of Wisconsin – Madison. The panel dialogue emphasized the need for asset-based approaches that focus on students’ strengths, grassroots leadership coupled with institutional support, and the importance of aligning mentorship with institutional policies, accountability, and incentives. The panelists highlighted that institutionalizing mentorship requires top-down policy change and bottom-up cultural shifts, including self-awareness and inclusive practices by all. To this end, leadership was presented as crucial in providing resources, modeling commitment, crafting value propositions, and leveraging data that advocates for sustained investment. To conclude, the panelists encouraged holistic and intentional efforts that lead to a culturally responsive mentorship that is sustainable, measurable, and a transformative factor of institutional culture.

Discussion

Literature Perspective

The scholarship has widely recognized mentorship as a driving force for broadening participation in the STEMM and biomedical research. Mentorship has been tied to fostering science identity, belongingness, greater career satisfaction, research productivity, and fostering persistence and engagement in these fields (Bonifacino et al., 2021; Byars-Winston et al., 2010; Estrada et al., 2018; Farkas et al., 2019; Haeger & Fresquez, 2016; NASEM, 2019). Defined by practices that acknowledge mentees’ cultural identities, lived experiences, and unique challenges, culturally responsive mentorship has been noted to foster psychological safety, belonging, and resilience; factors that have been highlighted to support engagement, persistence, and progressions in STEMM and biomedical fields (Byars-Winston et al., 2018, 2023; Suiter et al., 2024). In this realm, research has also noted that mentorship relationships are culturally informed and there is a need and desire to embrace and have discussions around identities and lived experiences in mentorship relationships (Byars-Winston et al., 2015; Pfund et al., 2016; Muller et al., 2012).

Asset-based approaches are grounded in identifying and embracing the plethora of strengths and cultural capital that individuals possess to empower them as they navigate systems of oppression (Yosso, 2005). Historically, STEMM has operated under deficit-based approaches, grounded in practices around being saviors and “fixing” individuals (NASEM, 2023). The literature has called for a shift from the deficit-based framework, which focuses on the individual, to one that focuses on systems (NASEM, 2023). Yosso (2005) introduced the Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) framework, which challenges deficit views of historically marginalized individuals. This framework notes that individuals possess rich cultural capital that can be developed and leveraged to navigate systems of oppression. The author introduced six forms of cultural capital for individuals: aspirational, linguistic, familial, social, navigational, and resistant. Broadly, authors who have delved into CCW and STEMM have affirmed that students draw from these forms of cultural capital to navigate systems in addition to having encouraged additional scholarship in this space that collects data from faculty, family, and staff (Braun et al., 2017; Denton et al., 2020; Rincón et al., 2020).

One of the common themes throughout this conference experience was the agreement on the importance of asset-based and culturally responsive mentorship approaches, also echoing a desire to learn how to translate these approaches practically and systemically. Mentorship education has emerged to support mentors and mentees in engaging in effective and culturally responsive mentorship (Byars-Winston et al., 2015; 2018; Pfund et al., 2016). Additionally, the NRMN organization developed mentorship curriculum prompts to guide conversations between mentors and mentees in support of their career goals (Javier et al., 2024). The mentorship education efforts are significant because mentorship is a skill that requires learning, practice, reflection, and feedback (NASEM, 2019). Towards this goal, and encompassing the voices from the conference, we encourage further development of mentorship education that trains mentors and mentees, including those that incorporate and delve into asset-based approaches in STEMM and biomedical research mentorship.

Few articles have specifically focused on the institutionalization of mentorship in the STEMM and biomedical research fields, highlighting the need for further research in this area. A NASEM (2023) report emphasized the role and responsibility of organizations in creating the culture within these environments that fosters inclusivity, equity, and broadens participation in STEMM. Existing research has explored the role of an organization’s culture and values in shaping its practices and norms, as these values signal the organization’s priorities and expectations within the community (Javier, 2024; NASEM, 2023; Tierney, 2008; Zachary, 2006). As it pertains to mentorship, this statement suggests that to adopt and embrace mentorship as a norm, practice, and policy within an organization, we must first integrate it into the organization’s values and culture. Moreover, the scholarship has noted the role that leaders play, given their positions of power, in fostering organizational culture, playing an influential role in the institutionalization of mentorship (NASEM, 2023; Schneider et al., 2017). With this in mind, Hundl and colleagues (2018) emphasized that evaluating mentorship, which includes structures of accountability, is critical to fostering a culture that values mentorship. The authors called for a holistic review and design of tools to evaluate mentorship, including program evaluation, teaching evaluation, tenure or promotion, and the implementation of funder-initiated evaluation (Hundl et al., 2018).

Throughout the conference, it was emphasized that mentorship is a strong predictor of retention, engagement, and advancement, yet mentorship remains inconsistently implemented and undervalued in many institutional values. To this end, a recurring theme throughout the conference is the institutionalization of mentoring as a core academic function, and not as a peripheral activity. This reflects a desire for institutional re-imagination and change to value mentorship, which shifts the culture of mentorship from informal or ad hoc, to deliberate, systematically woven, and data-driven systems of support. Studies in the space of mentorship have noted the role of institutions in truly valuing institutional investment in mentorship education, rewriting faculty expectations to recognize mentorship as a valued element for promotion and tenure, and investment in and value of faculty mentorship work promotion (Javier, 2024a, Hundl et al., 2018; Morrison et al., 2019; NASEM, 2019; Suiter et al., 2024; Tigges et al., 2020).

Voices from the Conference: Shared Actions, Strategies, and Resources

Throughout the conference, actions, strategies, and resources emerged through the voices of speakers and attendees that support asset-based, culturally responsive, and effective mentorship relationships as well as the institutionalization of mentorship. A curated list has been assembled to capture the rich discussion and provide practical actions, strategies, and resources to support mentorship in efforts to foster workforce development. Table 1 includes a list of strategies grounded in the following actions: a) Embrace Asset-Based & Culturally Responsive Mentorship Approaches; b) Capture, Measure & Continuously Improve Mentorship Evaluation and Data; c) Funding Agencies as Drivers of Effective Mentorship and Institutional Commitment; d) Institutionalize Mentorship by Embracing it as a Core Institutional Value; e) Ensure Sustainability of Mentorship. Table 2 lists nationwide programs and virtual resources to help enhance mentorship relationships.

Table 2.

Nationwide Mentorship Programs and Asynchronous Mentorship Resources

Resource Description
National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN) Nationwide network to provide individuals across all career stages with evidence-based mentorship and professional development programming. Includes a national mentorship, networking, and professional development virtual platform designed to connect mentors and mentees across institutions and career stages.
Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Consortium to Advance Health Equity and Researcher Diversity (AIM-AHEAD) Nationwide effort to empower researchers and communities across (he United States in the development of AI/ML models and enhance the capabilities of this emerging technology. AIM-AHEAD includes a nationwide platform for mentorship, networking, and professional development.
Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER) Offers training and consultation services to support mentorship initiatives, curate and build resources to support mentoring relationships, and provide assessment resources.
Unconscious Bias Course An asynchronous self-paced course that delves into helping address personal unconscious bias, teaches about microaggressions, provides a solutions toolkit, helps develop self-awareness, and delves into bias and disparities in STEM disciplines and STEM research, including medicine and healthcare.
Launching Research Part 1 An asynchronous self-paced course that delves into three modules: 1-) The first module introduces the user to research, provides guidelines for mentor and mentee responsibilities, and discusses the development of a professional image; 2-) The second module addresses research compliance, including the protection of human subjects, the welfare of laboratory animals, and guidance for developing standard operating procedures; and 3-) The third module covers research ethics including conflicts of interest, article perspectives, research articles, and provides instruction for creating and maintaining a laboratory notebook.
Launching Research Part 2: Tools for Organization and Investigation An asynchronous self-paced course that delves into three modules: 1-) The first module introduces the user to data gathering, scientific and engineering methods, and data management and practices; 2-) The second module addresses (he SWOT analysis, collaboration, research misconduct, and citation /reference management; 3-) The third module covers authorship and publication, theses and dissertations, scientific meetings, and intellectual property (patents and other IP).
Advancing Intentional Mentoring An asynchronous self-paced course with engaging faculty training resources to promote student success through positive and intentional mentoring, particularly for mentors of undergraduate research students.
Culturally Aware Mentorship (CAM) Evidence-based mentorship education to enhance mentors’ ability to effectively address cultural diversity matters in (heir research mentoring relationships.
Optimizing the Practice of Mentoring 101: For Research Mentors of Graduate Students, Fellows, and Early-Career Faculty A self-directed course designed to help faculty members (or other experienced researchers) optimize their mentoring relationships with graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and early-career faculty. The course predominantly addresses research mentoring (hat occurs within biomedical, behavioral, and social science fields. However, many of (he principles and approaches covered in (his course are applicable to other disciplines and other types of mentoring relationships.
Optimizing the Practice of Mentoring 102: For Research Mentors of Undergraduate Students This self-directed course is designed to help faculty members, postdoctoral fellows, or graduate students optimize their mentoring relationships with undergraduate mentees. The course predominantly addresses research mentoring that occurs within biomedical, behavioral, and social science fields. However, many of the principles and approaches covered in (his course are applicable to other disciplines and other types of mentoring relationships.
Build a Mentoring Network to Succeed in Graduate School and Beyond Offered by lBiology, through this course, Scientists from different backgrounds give concrete steps to building a mentoring network to be a more confident researcher and feel supported by the graduate school research community.
Enhancing Motivation Using the CARES Mentoring Model E-learning training that delves into 1-) a theoretically driven approach to mentoring that focuses on attending to the core psychological needs thal enhance a mentee’s motivation; 2) basic motivation concepts and their well-researched impact on mentees’ satisfaction, performance, and persistence in educational settings and; 3-) professional settings strategies for putting the model’s principles into action with their mentees.
NASEM (2019) : The Science of Effective Mentorship in STEMM The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) provide a complementary interactive guide that presents insights on effective programs and practices (hat can be adopted and adapted by institutions, departments, and individual faculty/staff members.
NASEM The Science of Effective Mentoring in STEMM Podcast National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine podcast series that includes personal mentorship stories of leaders in academia, business, and the media, in their own words. The podcast also shares evidence-based mentorship practices that can help you develop the skills to engage in the most effective STEMM mentoring relationships possible.
NASEM (2023) : Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) report outlines actions that top leaders and gatekeepers in STEMM organizations, such as presidents and chief executive officers, can take to foster a culture and climate of antiracism, diversity, equity, and inclusion that is genuinely accessible and supportive to all.
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Mentorship Practice Implication

The conference discussions, strategies, and resources highlighted provide practical implications for STEMM programs, departments, and institutions that are seeking to enhance their mentorship efforts, including institutionalizing their mentorship practices to enhance engagement and persistence in the STEMM and biomedical research. As an illustration, program/department leaders, faculty, and staff can infuse asset-based and effective mentorship principles and mentorship education into their programs, curriculum, and training. Leaders are called upon to embed mentorship into their institutional and organizational values, norms, practices, and policies. A notable example is embedding the value of mentorship through promotion and tenure guidelines as well as accreditation expectations. At the individual levels, mentors and mentees can leverage mentorship education for self-awareness, professional growth, and empowerment through education. At all levels, adopting evidence-based evaluation assessments of mentorship, leveraging virtual mentorship, engaging in mentorship education, creating and engaging in a community of practice for mentorship, and fostering a culture of collaboration can foster accountability, sustainability, and scalability. Collectively, these actions can translate into empowerment of individuals, institutionalized and scalable actions to foster a culture of mentorship across STEMM and biomedical research.

Conclusion

The conference provided an opportunity to engage a nationwide audience to discuss asset-based, culturally responsive mentorship and the institutionalization of mentorship in efforts to foster workforce development in STEMM and the biomedical research community. Through rich presentations, discussions, sharing of research and practices, and networking, a central message emerged: we all have a collective responsibility to enhance and sustain mentorship relationships in STEMM and the biomedical research ecosystem. A critical element discussed is the importance of institutionalizing mentorship, recognizing that to foster workforce development, it is imperative that organizations/institutions truly value mentorship and that it is reflected in their policies, processes, practices, and norms. The conference themes reflect the notion that broadening participation and supporting workforce development in STEMM and biomedical research requires reengineering the systems that shape engagement, development, belonging, and retention.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to the speakers, panelists, moderators, and the conference planning committee for their dedication, contributions, and time commitment in making the conference possible: Neeraj Agarwal, Pat Baker, Riyaz Basha, Janet Branchaw, Chris Channey, Gabriela Chavira, Captain Anthony Johnson, Harlan Jones, Nana Kofi Kusi-Boadum, Tonychris Nnaka, Steve P. (Hyun Sok) Lee, Annabel Luna-Smith, Alfred Mays, Rick McGee, Barbara Naranjo, Kola Okuyemi, Sterling Ortega, Chris Pfund, Amanda Roberts, Jaime Rubin, Akshay Sood, Chris Sorkness, Toufeeq Ahmed Syed, Lawrence Tabak, Charles Taylor, Sylvia Trent-Adams, Anne Weber-Main, Brandie Wiley.

The authors would also like to express their gratitude to the University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNT Health Fort Worth), the Institute for Health Disparities at UNT Health Fort Worth, the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN), the Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Consortium to Advance Health Equity and Researcher Diversity (AIM-AHEAD), the Texas Community-Engagement Research Alliance (Texas CEAL), and the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Research Experiences in Research (CIMER) for their support in making this conference possible.

The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Health (NIH). Additionally, NIH nor its employees promote or endorse the University of North Texas Health Science Center, its services, or future programs.

Funding

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Numbers R13GM155997.

Further support was provided by the Institute of Health Disparities at UNT Health Fort Worth and the College of Biomedical and Translational Sciences at UNT Health Fort Worth. Additional support was provided by the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Program at UTSouthwestern Medical Center and the Office of Research and Graduate Studies at Texas Christian University.

The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or sponsoring organizations.

Biographies

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Damaris Javier, Ph.D., serves as the Principal Investigator (PI) for the grant titled “The Broadening Biomedical Research Workforce Participation Through Culturally Responsive Mentorship,” which supported the conference highlighted in this article. Dr. Javier’s work has focused on workforce development in higher education, STEMM, biomedical research, and health professions; developing multi-institutional, large-scale projects; mentorships; curriculum and training development; nationwide dissemination efforts; stakeholder and partnership development; and student/ faculty development progression. Dr. Javier’s educational background includes K–12 and higher education training and experience, providing a strong foundation in general education, pedagogy, and an understanding of the K–12 to higher-education pathway.

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Alexis Short is a digital media strategy and communications leader specializing in marketing automation, audience engagement, and data-driven systems that advance accessibility in research and higher education. She serves as Salesforce Marketing Cloud Campaign Manager at UNT Health Fort Worth, leading scalable communication strategies across academic and healthcare environments. Alexis previously supported national initiatives with the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN), driving resource dissemination and community engagement across multidimensional scholarly communities. Her work bridges technology, storytelling, and culturally responsive frameworks to strengthen mentorship ecosystems and expand participation in the biomedical research workforce and beyond.

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Luz Henriquez is a Program Manager at the University of North Texas Health Science Center, where she leads initiatives focused on mentorship, professional training, and workforce development within biomedical and health-related fields. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Texas Woman’s University and has professional experience spanning healthcare, research administration, and organizational operations. Her work emphasizes program coordination, stakeholder engagement, and strategic planning to support career advancement opportunities. Henriquez is passionate about creating inclusive learning environments, strengthening professional pipelines, and supporting individuals pursuing careers in science, healthcare, and research across communities and populations globally.

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Rinoj Gautam, Ph.D., is a data science professional with a strong passion for applying AI/ML in the health domain. He currently serves as a Business Data Analyst at the UNT Health Fort Worth, where he supports multiple AIM-AHEAD initiatives through data analysis, AI/ML training, and data management. An AI/ML enthusiast, he applies machine learning and data engineering approaches to large-scale population health and healthcare datasets. His research focuses on using AI/ML to study disease risk factors, health behaviors, and health outcomes using national survey and administrative claims data.

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Theresa Agwuncha, MPH, CPH, is a health equity advocate and practitioner specializing in program evaluation, policy analysis, workforce development, and cross-sector partnerships. She serves as the Community Health and Housing Project Manager on the HHI team at CommonSpirit Health. At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, she worked in the Office of the Director advancing integration of health equity across programmatic initiatives, workforce strategies, and funding streams, before transitioning to the Division of Violence Prevention to support policy analysis, congressional reporting, and partnership development. Her work operates at the intersection of health equity, policy, workforce development, and systems-level change.

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Jamboor K. Vishwanatha, Ph.D., is a Regents Professor, Vice President, and Founding Director of the Texas Center for Health Disparities at UNT Health Fort Worth. He is the lead PI of the AIM-AHEAD Coordinating Center and PI of the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN), which provides mentorship, networking, and professional development for the biomedical/behavioral workforce. He also leads the NIH Specialized Center of Excellence in Minority Health and Health Disparities and other nationwide projects. He received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM) from the U.S. White House in October 2019 and January 2025.

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