Five Questions Every Mentee Should Have an Answer To

When we began forming a mentor-mentee relationship in academic medicine a decade ago, it became clear that both structure and expertise was necessary for success. Structure—in the form of expectations that outlined who was responsible for what, how often we should meet, and how best to communicate—made explicit that which is usually implicit. We also recognized that the expertise—the content, and technical and strategic advice—required for the mentee to succeed would need to be provided by more than one type of mentor.