ABSTRACT
Mentoring in medicine has usually consisted of an informal relationship between an established scientist and a young physician-scientist to develop the research capability of the junior investigator. A formal mentoring affiliation entails meetings at least quarterly for the first year when participants are free of other duties to allow sufficient time for full discussion of professional and personal issues. Where long-distance mentoring support is needed, a web-based approach may be useful. Mentoring includes teaching, advising, and serving as role models, but a good mentor is more than that. Good mentors bring to the table the experience of an examined life. The absence of visible reinforcement from chairs and key institutional personnel critically impairs the effectiveness of mentoring programs. Random assignment of mentees to conscripted mentors produces "forced friendships", which, like blind dates, sometimes work out and sometimes do not. Mentoring partnerships in medicine need not be permanent relationships.
