Scholars receive 25% salary support for two years to enable their participation in a research survival skills practicum, mentored collection of pilot data, preparation of manuscripts for peer-reviewed publication, and submission of K23 and K01 proposals.

Of 22 junior faculty scholars appointed during the period of 1999–2004, 17 have submitted K award proposals. All were funded on either the first or second submission

In our discussions with students and faculty, a frequently reported career development need is effective skills in writing of grants and publications. We view grant-preparation skills to include mastery of both the technical components (i.e., design and measurement) of grant preparation and, importantly, the art—from choosing topics of appropriate public health significance and scientific scope to ensuring adequate pilot data, providing reasoned arguments, and engaging departmental and NIH program support.

As pointed out by Bruce (7), junior faculty scholars can experience two types of time management problems. The first is poor time management strategies on a day-to-day basis such that they have difficulty devoting sufficient time to research-related activities (from data collection to grant writing) due to competing demands (e.g., responsibilities related to clinical care, teaching, serving on other investigators' grants, family). The second reflects inadequate attention to career timetables, resulting in junior faculty not having taken the appropriate steps (e.g., manuscript production, pilot data acquisition, grant writing) to enable them to meet the requirements needed for each step of the career path (7). We would underscore the importance of mentoring in preventing or reducing these problems. As Bruce (7) has emphasized, mentorship provides junior investigators a relatively objective individual to help them make decisions about how to use their time and to implement strategic career development timetables.

Clearly, the skills required to be successful as a clinician-researcher cannot be easily reduced to a standard curriculum. A mentor is essential to this process. Studies in biomedical and behavioral research and mental health and psychiatry, specifically, have demonstrated that individuals who become successful independent investigators are more likely to have had an extended mentoring experience. This is especially true for women and minorities. A critical component of the JFS program is oversight and availability of the program director and other senior faculty to identify mentorship problems at an early stage and work with trainees and mentors to resolve them.

There is a range of mentor-like roles that, at various points in time, are developmentally critical. The junior faculty observes a mentor as a role model conducting a research project, managing a lab meeting, negotiating with an institutional review board. Importantly, this type of learning also extends to observing how the mentor balances multiple roles at work and between work and home. Providing advice and guidance on individual goals and strategies and career pathways to achieve these goals is a core mentorship function. Oftentimes this will require getting quite specific help to delineate their personal objectives. Teaching specific research skills and techniques as well as the formal “rules of the game” in writing grants and getting published is also a key component of mentorship. The mentor is a critical facilitator of professional socialization, advancing the mentee's understanding of academic pathways and culture—both locally and nationally. Linking the mentee to a broader national network of investigators is an important task for the mentor. The mentor must also transmit explicitly and implicitly the essential values of science and the ethical conduct of research. Facing the pressures of academic imperatives, the values of young investigators can become distorted. The mentor must help the mentee reflect on his or her motives and values, often through direct discussion of how the mentor has been able to establish an ethical framework. Especially in the face of inevitable disappointment, the mentor will need to provide direct emotional support and nurturance. The mentor will also need to be an advocate for the mentee (e.g., sponsoring his or her academic advancement, helping the mentee to protect his or her time, linking him or her to potential funding sources). It is unlikely that a single individual can fulfill all of these functions. Ultimately, most successful scientists put together a pastiche of mentors and role models that fills their specific needs.

Mentor assignment is determined partly on the basis of the scholar's stated preference, appropriateness of fit in scientific interests and expertise, mentoring skills, and interpersonal chemistry. Interpersonal chemistry is most often, in our experience, what determines whether things work out. More specifically, many trainees need a very structured approach and high availability; some senior faculty travel a lot, are like moving targets, and may not tolerate the handholding that is sometimes needed. In our JFS program, during the 5-year period covered by this report on 22 scholars, we have had to change mentors on one occasion.

Junior faculty scholars receive pilot research support from various research centers in the department and from the JFS-funded pilot study program. For example, three scholars received support from the Mental Health Intervention Research Center (P30 MH30915), four scholars received support from the Intervention Research Center for Late-Life Mood Disorders (P30 MH52247), one scholar each received support from the Conte Center for the Neuroscience of Mental Disorders (P30 MH45156) and from the Treatment Effectiveness Studies in Women (WISE) Center (R24 MH53817). The award of pilot research support is competitive and follows peer review by the Seed Money Research Committee of the department of psychiatry.