Achievement

The Michigan Medicine Department of Surgery provides a platform in which all surgeons reach their highest academic potential and eliminate underrepresentation at all ranks.

This intentional and sustained effort requires:

1. Education, guidance, and effective mentoring for junior and midlevel faculty as they navigate the academic promotion process.
2. A collective awareness of and responsiveness to the professional goals and associated challenges of established faculty. We will rigorously prepare all faculty to achieve promotion to the Associate Professor and full Professor ranks, beginning in Year 1 and continue throughout advancement.

The Faculty & Resident Launch Program is a multifaceted, 3-year program that creates an intentional, team-based approach to mentorship and development of early-career faculty members and residents. The program is open to all faculty members and residents within the Department on each track, and is designed with flexible elements to tailor the program toward an individual’s professional and personal needs.

Mentorship occurs through teams that include faculty members within the Department of Surgery, as well as mentors from other disciplines with unique expertise in key areas of faculty growth. Teams will support and guide faculty members through the first few years of practice and residents during their academic development time, focusing on aspects of performance that are critical for success and well-being: clinical care, academics, education, and leadership.

Boost Teams

Boost Teams is an initiative within the Faculty & Resident Launch Program for newly promoted Associate Professors in the department. We developed this program based on feedback from faculty members who expressed the need for support once they transitioned from Assistant to Associate Professor.

Each participant in this program will be assigned a Boost Team consisting of 4-6 members with relevant knowledge and experience who will assist in the following areas:

1. Help you clarify your phenotype
2. Discuss and identify long term goals
3. Map your career trajectory, with an eye towards development needs for reaching your long-term goals
4. Perform an overall mid-career assessment

Newly appointed Associate Professors (3 or fewer years in rank) are eligible to apply for this program. If you have any questions, please contact Laura Rivard at [email protected]

We created a mentorship program to encourage camaraderie and engagement across all “generations” of surgical training by providing dedicated time to support necessary mentoring and coaching. Each mentoring “family” consists of one or two medical students interested in surgery, a general surgery categorical PGY-1, an academic development time (ADT) resident, and a faculty member. This framework allows multiple members to meet and engage in a bidirectional mentoring experience in an efficient manner.

We believe that everyone is a mentor. Mentorship is essential to professional development and long-term career success, leading to stronger career trajectories and higher levels of productivity for those who have an effective mentorship experience.

We are creating a departmental environment that rigorously prepares all faculty to achieve promotion to the Associate Professor and full Professor ranks. This will begin in Year 1 and continue throughout advancement. This will entail devising efforts that empower all faculty to overcome barriers to promotion and eliminate under-representation. We aim to incorporate a portfolio of opportunities for lifelong professional advancement and personal fulfillment.

The Department of Surgery offers a promotion handbook to guide and prepare faculty members during the promotion process. This handbook aims to increase transparency and clarity around promotions for every faculty member in the Department of Surgery.