The C-Change Mentoring and Leadership Institute, a pioneering group peer mentoring model, has once again demonstrated success in enhancing the vitality and professional efficacy of midcareer medical research faculty. This groundbreaking initiative addresses critical challenges faced by medical schools, including faculty burnout rates, underrepresentation of minority faculty, and gender disparities in biomedical research.
C-Change’s latest NIH supported study, published in PLOS-ONE on March 18, 2024, Group Peer Mentoring is Effective for Different Demographic Groups of Biomedical Research Faculty: A Controlled Trial, by Pololi, Evans, Civian, McNamara and Brennan, provides additional evidence that the C-Change model is efficacious across demographic groups.
Key Findings:
Improved Vitality: Participants in the C-Change program reported significantly higher self-assessed vitality compared to their peers in the propensity-matched control group.
Enhanced Self-Efficacy: Faculty members who participated in the program demonstrated increased self-efficacy across multiple domains, including career advancement, research, and mentoring.
Empathy and Inclusion: Cultural awareness, appreciation of diversity, cognitive empathy and anti-sexism/racism skills were notably enhanced among C-Change participants.
Equitable Benefits: The benefits of the intervention were consistent across demographic groups. Regardless of gender, underrepresented minority status, or education (MD/PhD), participants experienced positive outcomes.
About C-Change Mentoring and Leadership Institute
The National Initiative on Gender, Culture and Leadership in Medicine, known as C-Change (for culture change), was founded in 2006 and is housed at Brandeis University. Dedicated to improving the culture of academic medicine through research and action, C-Change aims to promote an inclusive, affirming, relational and productive working environment for all faculty and trainees, and to increase diversity of leadership in academic medicine.