FAER Emphasizes Mentoring

John P. Kampine, M.D., Ph.D.
FAER Board of Directors

During the past few years, there has been a growing concern among anesthesiology program directors — including top academic leaders and as expressed by 2003 ASA President James E. Cottrell, M.D. — regarding the academic health of anesthesiology training programs. Concerns have been expressed with regard to the dearth of demonstrable scholarly activities and, more specifically, the relatively low performance of our specialty in competing for National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded research grants. Research funding for anesthesiology department-initiated individual grants, multicenter grants, program project grants and career development awards has increased during the past decade. Our specialty, however, has not shown the same rate of increase in funded grants as most other specialties, including internal medicine, surgery, psychiatry, pathology and pediatrics, to name a few.

Problem areas have been identified as lack of career development programs, lack of time and funding and insufficient mentoring for programs to develop residents, fellows and junior faculty into successful academic leaders. As a result of these various deficiencies and other factors, there appears to be serious and growing concerns for the future of anesthesiology. The Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research (FAER) has initiated programs to foster the growth of scholarly activities in research and education beyond funding of investigator-initiated research proposals.

A committee was appointed in 2002 to address the challenge of improving mentoring and efforts in academic career development. With regard to research, the Committee on Mentoring approached the problem of mentoring scholars in research activities with resultant proposals to help sponsor not only investigators but also to provide for funding of mentors and to develop a national organization or anesthesiology academy of mentors to promote mentoring and provide recognition for those who have achieved success as mentors. FAER has initiated a program to provide funds for mentors of FAER research training grants awarded for the training of young investigators consistent with the time commitment by the trainee. This money would be used to buy a minimum of two days of nonclinical time with one day funded by the department and one funded by FAER. The maximum provided by FAER for any mentor would be $40,000 per year. If a mentor has two or more nonclinical days and additional nonclinical time beyond the two days is not desired by the mentor, the money would still be granted to provide assistance to the research efforts of the mentor. This additional funding is not to be used for augmentation of salary but rather to fund the mentor’s time and will be provided to the department for that purpose.

It is anticipated that this program will be initiated for grants approved for funding in 2005. FAER has been a strong source of support for anesthesia-related research and education grants and urges increased efforts for funding and mentoring of all young investigators and those in academic career development paths regardless of the source of grant funding. The history of FAER-funded investigators is that a very high percentage of them demonstrate progression to successful NIH funding of their research efforts.

Establishing an Anesthesiology Academy of Mentors
FAER has approved and supported a proposal by the FAER Committee on Mentoring to establish an Anesthesiology Academy of Mentors. The Anesthesiology Academy of Mentors will recognize the contributions of academic anesthesiologists who have demonstrated outstanding contributions to the development of young investigators. Nominations for membership have been solicited from chairs of academic anesthesiology departments. The committee will consider for membership others who have successfully mentored recipients of mentored FAER grants and other career development awardees. The Anesthesiology Academy of Mentors will be a highly select group of individuals with the common goal of serving as a resource for the development of new mentors and role models for academic anesthesiology. The group will promote and foster the development of activities to enhance mentorship and academic career development. The group will promote these activities through educational programs, seminars and workshops at national meetings, provide help to develop junior faculty who are beginning in a mentoring role and disseminate information that increases awareness of the importance of mentoring and other approaches useful for academic career planning and development.

John P. Kampine, M.D., Ph.D., is Professor and Chair, Department of Anesthesiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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