Mentorship and Intentional Early Career Support in the Field of STI Research

Why are we writing about mentorship in this reflection on the 50-year history of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD journal)? When Bob Jones (RBJ) received the then-named Parran Award in recognition of his distinguished career in 1999, he gave his award speech on the topic of professional relationships and mentoring. A summary of his talk was published in STD.1 In that commentary, he reflected on the impact of his mentors who included key contributors to developing this field in the United States, such as King Holmes, Fred Sparling, and Julius Schachter. He also described the satisfaction he derived from mentoring others. Although Barbara Van Der Pol (BVDP) was his employee and not in a training position, he consistently provided career mentorship through example, and he supported her career development in multiple ways. Having learned the value of mentorship and career development activities, a major portion of her career efforts have been devoted to helping the next generation of people find opportunities for success in our field.2,3 These efforts have been made possible by the American STD Association (ASTDA), the owner of the STD journal, through its commitment to supporting activities/events/opportunities, scholarships, and funding opportunities all designed to support early career professionals. We have both served as president of the Board of Directors for ASTDA and put intentional personal and organizational effort into early career development activities. Thus, our focus on this topic for this special addition of the journal. The concept of mentorship is not unique to the field of sexually transmitted infections (STI)/sexual healthcare professionals. However, as a small, highly specialized discipline with very limited funding resources, mentoring, and supporting early career development is essential to retaining people in the field and ensuring that they flourish. For the purposes of this commentary, we define mentoring as either formal (eg a K-grant named mentor) or informal provision of career advice and scientific guidance. Mentoring activities may include co-authoring manuscripts; including a trainee in the manuscript review process; collaboration on funding applications; nominating trainees to serve on professional organizations' committees, boards, and councils; and, providing opportunities to be visible at regional, national and international conferences. Less formal mentoring may include serving as a sounding board for future directions and goals and career decisions; helping to address work/life balance concerns; and navigating professional relationships. Beyond one-on-one mentoring, intentional efforts to develop the career of early-stage professionals are necessary to provide not only training, which is facilitated by mentoring, but also opportunities for the next generation of professionals to flourish. These efforts are considered intentional when a senior advisor or a professional society takes the time, and potentially the funds, to make these opportunities happen. Examples of this type of activity include activities at conferences that specifically highlight the work of early career professionals or provide them with network building opportunities (eg Meet the Experts sessions), workshops, scholarships, and other activities. These activities require organization and a commitment to the effort in order to find funding, time, space, and senior colleagues willing to engage in the activities. Both mentorship and creation of opportunities to support early career professionals can become time-consuming and the activities are generally uncompensated. So why do we do it? Because we need to let the next generation take ownership of the field and begin to move in new directions. This is critical to avoid stagnation and reliance on the common adage “this is the way we have always done it.” The field has evolved enormously since the time that we both began working in STI control and this is, in large part, thanks to the creative thinking of people who can see not only what has been done in the past, but what is possible for the future. Mentorship and early career development are critical to building both continuity and the potential for change. Our field has a culture of collegiality and cooperation, born from shared values and goals, and in response to very limited funding opportunities. ASTDA, as our only professional society in the United States, exemplifies this culture and has emphasized activities that support the development of the next generation of professionals in our field. ASTDA annually confers a Young Investigator award to a person engaged in outstanding work in the field of STI research; the STD journal annually awards prizes for the top three articles published by a young investigator; ASTDA revised their bylaws several years ago to ensure that young investigators have two seats on the Board of Directors; and ASTDA supports an annual Young Investigators Workshop3 that brings together people from multiple sectors to build opportunities for early career professionals. We would encourage each of you to consider how you can play a role in developing the next generation. BVDP would never have had a career in this field without the mentorship and support of RBJ and others such as Charlotte Gaydos, Julius Schachter, and Ned Hook. BVDP was recently told by an attendee of the International Society for STD Research (ISSTDR; sponsored in 2023 by ASTDA) that she had opted to come to the STI meeting instead of the International AIDS Society meeting because BVDP had taken 5 minutes to answer her questions at a previous conference and had encouraged her to keep doing excellent work. It doesn't take a great deal of effort to be a positive influence! Having an open door, responding to cold calls/emails, and actively reaching out to say something positive to a trainee at a conference can have an enormous impact. We would also encourage organizations to continue or expand opportunities for early career professionals to be in the spotlight at conferences. At the 2023 ISSTDR, the organizers actively reached out to young investigators via digital media and provision of scholarships. One quarter of attendees were within 10 years of completion of training, an entire plenary was devoted to highlighting the work of early career professionals, and activities were intentionally planned to enhance the young investigator experience at the conference. These types of activities, in combination with strong commitments to one-on-one mentoring, will help our field as we transition into the next stage of STI control and sexual health service provision, in whatever form that may take.