Piloting a long distance clinician scientist trainee mentorship match in Canada

Abstract

Clinician scientists are physicians who are uniquely trained to bridge the gap between scientific discovery and clinical practice. However, the challenges of integrating research and medicine are often not directly addressed in the clinician scientist training programs. Furthermore, the demanding training path is financially and personally daunting. Previous studies have shown that MD/PhD trainees value the advice and expertise of senior mentors in navigating their academic career path. Despite this demand for mentors, there is a lack of formal mentorship initiatives at the institutional level across Canada. Recently, MD/PhD trainees have attempted to address this issue by implementing a nationwide mentorship match, with the aim of making mentorship more accessible to trainees across Canada.