A Path for Increasing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion through Mentorship
Ji Yeon Jemma Kang, MD, Annika Web MD, Travis Reece-Nguyen, MD, MPH
In January of 2025 our committee (previously known as the DEI committee) for the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia (SPA) launched a mentorship program Building Community Mentoring Program. The mentorship program involved about 50 mentors and 50 mentees. Since then, the mentees have presented 50+posters, have declared 14+ publications and 8 medical students stated that they matched into anesthesiology residency this cycle. We were able to help fund 5 mentees to come to the SPA national meeting this past March. Many of our mentees have expressed immense gratitude during these uncertain times.
We opened our mentorship program through the SPA and graciously through the Pediatric Article of the Day.
We have renamed the program this year as the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia Building Community Mentoring Program, to continue our mission. Although, second cohort mentee applications have commenced, we are still looking for inspiring mentors. If you’d like to become a mentor, please submit your information here. We plan to pair mentors and mentees by the beginning of the fall.
If you have further questions please feel free to contact Dr. Annika Webb (Annika.web.md@gmail.com), Dr. Jemma Kang (Jiyeon.j.kang@duke.edu) , Dr. Travis Reece-Nguyen (travisreecenguyen@stanford.edu ) or Dr. Odi Ehie (odi.ehie@ucsf.edu)
Many of us can recall mentors that have made a significant impact in our lives. For me (JK) some of those people were the late Dr. Minkus (a medical school advisor and mentor), Dr. Helen Lee (who introduced me to Pediatric Anesthesia) and Dr. Laura Berenstain (who mentored me as a new faculty out of fellowship). These individuals gave me opportunities in medicine, and more importantly allowed me to see and believe in my potential.
Indeed, mentorship has shown to increase satisfaction, retention, and publications in women in academic medicine1. Structured mentoring programs such as one at Massachusetts General Hospital, has shown mentees were more likely to hold senior faculty positions and mentees were more likely to be funded and promoted2.
Minoritized individuals are underrepresented in academic medicine, and the disparity is even greater in academic anesthesiology. These faculty are promoted at a lower rate and report lower career satisfaction. These individuals are often unaware of the critical need for mentoring or are unable to identify mentors committed to their career advancement3. They may work hard but do not necessarily understand what is needed to advance their career and be promoted.
Diversity is crucial to mitigate bias and inequity in healthcare; yet the current diversity within the pediatric anesthesiology workforce does not adequately reflect our overall patient population. In addition, our workforce inequities can mirror the causes of healthcare inequities and contribute to negative outcomes and disparities4. For example, the recent SPA-DEI Survey revealed a significant racial/ethnic representation gap because only 13.6% of respondents identified as Black or Hispanic while 40% of the U.S. pediatric population are Black or Hispanic5. This closely mirrored the race/ethnicity data for Pediatric Anesthesiology Fellows as well. However, between 2001-2018, despite increases in pediatric anesthesiology fellowship positions, the proportion of Black (7.0-4.0%), Asian (26.1-21.3%) and other minorities (12.3%-10.9%) remained low6. In addition, despite anesthesiology residents increasing during that same time period, there were increases in the proportion of White trainees but the proportion of Black (5%-6%), Asian (25.8%-24.1%) and other minority trainees (8.2%-8.5%) stayed fairly constant over time6.
The field of pediatric anesthesiology made progress in achieving gender parity in fellowship trainees by 2010 even though there is a continued lower proportion of women anesthesiology residents6. This trend was also seen in the overall SPA membership survey which showed 52.7% women and 45.7% men5. Despite achieving gender parity in our fellowship trainees and SPA members, there still remains a disparity in SPA leadership representation for women5. However, this gap is closing.
With all of this in mind the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia (SPA), Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee is launching a new, Mentorship Program to create a path for under-represented minority students and trainees to find support and community within the SPA.
The vision of our program is:
1. To give access to under-represented minority students and trainees to a mentorship program
2. To provide opportunities for sponsorship and scholarship of mentees to help meet their professional and academic goals.
3. To expose and collaborate with mentors and mentees in the rich environment of the pediatric anesthesia.
4. To increase the diversity of our future pediatric anesthesiology workforce.
5. To create of cascading effect of training mentees to be passionate future mentors
Our program is specifically designed to recruit and support mentees starting at the medical school level. The leaky pipeline for gender and racial/ ethnic diversity starts in medical school, if not before6. While we hope to increase the diversity of people who decide to specialize in pediatric anesthesiology, we ultimately want to help these mentees find what specialty inspires and motivates them best and equip them with the tools to excel in whatever specialty they choose. We hope that this mentorship program will help them feel more connected to a professional organization and part of a community that can offer support and guidance throughout their careers.
When we think of our mentors, we feel a great sense of gratitude, appreciation, and desire to create opportunities for others. This is the fuel that has created our passion to mentor trainees, a sense of “paying it forward.” Our committee has now created this wonderful initiative, and we invite you to become mentors to further enrich and diversify our future society of pediatric anesthesiologists.
References:
1. Farkas AH, Bonifacino E, Turner R, Tilstra SA, Corbelli JA. Mentorship of Women in Academic Medicine: a Systematic Review. J Gen Intern Med. Jul 2019;34(7):1322-1329. doi:10.1007/s11606-019-04955-2
2. Efstathiou JA, Drumm MR, Paly JP, et al. Long-term impact of a faculty mentoring program in academic medicine. PLoS One. 2018;13(11):e0207634. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0207634
3. Nafiu OO, Haydar B. Mentoring Programs in Academic Anesthesiology: A Case for PROFOUND Mentoring for Underrepresented Minority Faculty. Anesth Analg. Jul 2019;129(1):316-320. doi:10.1213/ane.0000000000004202
4. O'Conor KJ, Young L, Tomobi O, Golden SH, Samen CDK, Banks MC. Implementing pathways to anesthesiology: Promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and success. Int Anesthesiol Clin. Jan 1 2023;61(1):34-41. doi:10.1097/aia.0000000000000386
5. Reece-Nguyen TL, Lee HH, Garcia-Marcinkiewicz AG, et al. Diversity, equity, and inclusion within the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia: A mixed methods assessment. Paediatr Anaesth. Jun 2023;33(6):435-445. doi:10.1111/pan.14642
6. Nafiu OO, Leis AM, Wang W, Wixson M, Zisblatt L. Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Diversity in Pediatric Anesthesiology Fellowship and Anesthesiology Residency Programs in the United States: Small Reservoir, Leaky Pipeline. Anesth Analg. Oct 2020;131(4):1201-1209. doi:10.1213/ane.0000000000004765