From Career Alignment to Action: Strengthening Academic Mentoring Through Structured Reflection

Authors

• Fanni Farago, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer CenterFollow
• Julie Izzo, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer CenterFollow
• Courtney L. Holladay, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer CenterFollow
• Diane C. Bodurka, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer CenterFollow
• Michelle Hildebrandt, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer CenterFollow
• Suezen Salinas, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer CenterFollow

Document Type

Brief Report

Abstract

Background: As faculty roles and responsibilities become increasingly complex and demanding in contemporary academic medicine, fostering and sustaining faculty well-being has emerged as a critical organizational priority. In response to this need, this brief report describes early insights from the first year of implementation of the Academic Mentoring Program (AMP), a formal and expanding faculty mentoring initiative at UT MD Anderson. Our findings highlight the potential value of incorporating a structured career development assessment (CDA) tool into the mentee intake and engagement effort, evaluating development alignment, professional activities, and organizational expectations.

Methods: We conducted descriptive statistical analysis and qualitative thematic coding of responses from 97 highly engaged phase 1 AMP participants who completed the alignment section of the CDA. This section comprised 4 questions designed to explore mentees' perceptions of alignment and/or misalignment between their current role and their career aspirations.

Results: Three primary patterns emerged from the data. First, perceptions of alignment were described in the context of access to sufficient departmental/divisional resources to support the faculty. Second, perceptions of misalignment reflected gaps between respondents’ current career goals and their current workload, institutional expectations, and/or available resources. Third, through their reflections on alignment/misalignment, faculty identified individualized developmental priorities, including needs related to leadership development, mentoring, and career planning/growth.

Conclusion: The findings underscore the value of incorporating structured developmental alignment assessments, which may provide academic medical centers with an actionable approach to identifying faculty support needs, strengthening mentoring, and promoting workforce well-being.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.52519/ACEQI.26.2.2.a17

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Farago F, Izzo J, Holladay CL, Bodurka DC, Hildebrandt M, Salinas S. From Career Alignment to Action: Strengthening Academic Mentoring Through Structured Reflection. Advances in Cancer Education and Quality Improvement. 2026; 2(2). doi: https://doi.org/10.52519/ACEQI.26.2.2.a17.