Views of family medicine department Chairs about mentoring junior faculty

Mentoring can be a key component contributing to the success of faculty. We investigated the attitudes of family medicine department Chairs toward mentoring, with emphasis on mentoring female and minority faculty. This qualitative inquiry used semi-structured interviews with 13 Chairs of US departments of family medicine. Although most Chairs felt that mentoring had value, a minority of our sample had formal mentoring programs. Multiple mentors were suggested for female and minority faculty to meet both their personal career and content needs. Availability of senior faculty is a key resource. Until more senior women and minority faculty are available, cross-gender and cross-ethnicity mentoring will need to be utilized.