Mentors

Thank you for your interest in the Underserved Pathway! Longitudinal mentorship is an essential part of students’ experience in the Underserved Pathway.

Why is this important?

UP mentorship helps support students’ commitment to a career caring for under-resourced populations. Mentoring provides students the opportunity to learn from an experienced role model who can field questions, discuss specialties, residency, and career plans, share strategies for self-care, and support students in their education while helping them maintain focus on their commitment to the underserved. UP mentorship takes many shapes and is rather informal; see below for our supporting resources.

Who are UP mentors?

UP mentors are healthcare professionals from across the WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho) region who are involved in the care of under-resourced and marginalized populations in a variety of capacities. UP mentors must satisfy at least one of the following criteria:

– primarily care for under-resourced and marginalized patients
– have extensive history of caring for under-resourced and marginalized patients
– are from a group historically underrepresented in medicine
– conduct research related to the health of historically marginalized people

UP mentors do not need to be connected with UW or academic medicine and do not need to provide research mentorship or opportunity for clinical shadowing.

What is the commitment like?

Most UP mentors spend four to eight hours per year communicating with each UP mentee. Many UP mentors have more than one mentee.

Students are responsible for initiating contact and checking in with their mentor at least once a quarter until they graduate medical school, either in-person or via phone, video chat, or email.

Are you interested in being an Underserved Pathway mentor? We would love to have you! Please email the Underserved Pathway Program Manager at upath@uw.edu. We will refer potential mentees to contact you directly.