iTHRIV Scholars Program:
Mentorship
ABOUT:
The iTHRIV Scholars Program is a multi-institutional career development program across multiple schools/departments focused on early career faculty and partially supported by the integrated Translational Health Research Institute of Virginia (iTHRIV) Clinical Translational Science Award (KL2TR003016 and UL1TR003015). Each Scholar has one or more Scientific Mentors identified in their application. This mentor/mentoring team plays an important role in the development of the research career for each Scholar.
Mentors may focus on ‘content,’ ‘process,’ or both helping the Scholars to establish and develop new technical and scientific skills, to navigate the challenges of setting up a new research team, and to identify critical steps for progressing in academia. During the first year of the iTHRIV Scholars Program, each Scholar is also assigned an ‘iTHRIV Mentor.’ This person is chosen to complement the existing Mentor/mentoring team and fulfill a specific need for the individual Scholar. This new mentor-mentee relationship is intended to allow the Scholar to move into a new scientific area, create connections to specific clinical populations, foster cross-disciplinary collaboration, augment access to grant writing expertise, or gain access to new sponsorship opportunities among other opportunities.
The iTHRIV mentor may be drawn from outside the Scholar’s research area, school, and even institution. Each month the Scholars and their mentors come together with the iTHRIV Scholars Program leadership for a Mentoring Hour focused on issues around mentoring. Scholar-Mentor pairs frequently lead discussion on topics of their choosing. These sessions also focus on the fact that the Scholars, as emerging clinical translational researchers, are themselves both mentees and mentors to others. As the Scholars Program embarks on its fifth year, program alumni are returning in formal mentoring roles.
Meet a Mentor
Carol Manning, Ph.D. ABPP-CN
University of Virginia
Harrison Distinguished Teaching Professor of Neurology
Vice Chair for Faculty Development
Director Memory Disorders Clinic
Department of Neurology
Dr. Manning is an exceptional mentor who selflessly gives ample time to mentoring many junior faculty and trainees. One of Dr. Manning’s standout qualities in her mentorship approach is her ability to tailor her support, advocacy, and mentorship to the needs of the individual mentee. This is all the more impressive given that she mentors clinicians and scientists in multiple stages of training/career development and in different disciplines.
My training as a postdoctoral fellow and my career as a junior faculty member at UVA have been significantly propelled by Dr. Manning’s mentorship. She is quick to offer opportunities for growth and advancement, she provides sound counsel on prioritization of different demands, and she gives expert guidance on scientific proposals and manuscripts. She does all of this with warmth, empathy, and positive encouragement. I feel extremely fortunate to have Dr. Manning as a mentor and am immensely grateful for her continued support and sponsorship.
Virginia Gallagher, PhD, iTHRIV Scholar (2024-2026)