Table 2:

Ways That Leaders and Organizations Can Support ESIs

	Mentorship	Protected Time and Resources	Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Department Leaders and Institutions	Connect ESIs with physician-scientists inside and outside of the OB/GYN department (e.g. through physician-scientist training programs in other fields). Support participation in career development programs and workshops (e.g. Institutional “K Club”, Grant Writing Workshops through SRI and Perinatal Research Society, NIH Young Investigator Conference) Incentivize and compensate mentors; support formal training in mentorship and reward good mentors.	Write contracts with days of clinical duty, not solely % effort. Set expectation that protected time is protected (avoid “clinical creep”). Know the market value of start-up packages for physician-scientists and extend competitive offers, comparable to other specialties. Commit to at least 3 years of protected time and support for research expenses to allow sufficient time for an ESI to successfully obtain funding.	Develop and implement an action plan to address systemic racism, sexism, and implicit bias. Maintain a zero-tolerance policy toward discrimination, mistreatment, and harassment. Compensate DEI work with time and salary support. Promote equity of protected time and resources to all physician-scientists. Ensure equitable distribution of service and citizenship tasks. Be transparent about compensation and regularly review data to ensure equity. Eliminate the motherhood penalty. Establish paid parental leave policies including partner leave. Increase childcare support. Support flexible work schedules. Set clear expectations for parental leave and how the institution will support career (e.g. avoid changes in compensation, extend tenure clock). Sponsor URM faculty.
Professional Organizations	Sponsor and organize: Networking events to foster mentor-mentee connections Seminar series on career journeys of established and emerging physician-scientists Special interest groups for peer mentorship Maintain a database with ESIs available for talks and other career advancement opportunities. Produce resources for being a good mentor and a good mentee.	Compile national data from academic institutions on salaries and start-up packages (resource for chairs and ESIs). Provide training workshops on topics for those interested in physician-scientist development at annual meetings (e.g. negotiating your first job, and resources needed to start a lab)	Build diversity among organizational leadership. Ensure that age, race and gender identity are well balanced among workgroups and committees. Amplify the voices and share stories of physician-scientists identifying as underrepresented in medicine based on race/ethnicity, gender, LGBTQ+, and others. Sponsor and organize events to promote peer networking
NIH	Continue to support conferences for grant writing and career development. Support effort for K mentors.	Require protected time on early stage grants. Increase the number of targeted pathway to independence awards for physician-scientists with interests in basic science (e.g. K99/R00)	Fund URM scientists, especially those working in underfunded areas, such as health disparities. Build diversity among organizational leadership. Ensure that age, race and gender identity are well balanced among workgroups and committees. Continue to honor extensions of ESI timeline to account for childbirth.

DEI, diversity, equity and inclusion; NIH, National Institutes of Health; SRI, Society for Reproductive Investigation; URM, underrepresented in medicine.