ABSTRACT The Cross-disciplinary Otitis Media Mentoring Network towards Diversity (COMMeND) is a first-of-its-kind program within the otitis media (OM) community that will formalize existing collaborations into a mentoring network and create new connections among OM researchers at different career stages, including early-stage or new investigators (ESI-NIs) and individuals from under-represented minorities (URM). As the main cause of the global burden of hearing loss in young children, OM is an important disease to study for its pathophysiology and epidemiology and for which to design new strategies of prevention, early diagnosis and treatment, research that are best done through international collaboration. Decades-long attrition in the OM workforce due to a very leaky pipeline has led to loss of scientific and career opportunities. The main objective of COMMeND is to promote the recruitment and retention of ESI-NIs and trainees from various disciplines and backgrounds in OM research. We have put together a highly experienced leadership team and a pool of qualified OM faculty mentors and lecturers, as well as garnered support from our home departments and two professional organizations with strong interest in OM, namely the International Society for Otitis Media (ISOM) and the Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO). To accomplish our goal, we have three Specific Aims: (1) To recruit into and retain experienced faculty mentors and the top mentees (trainees and ESI-NIs) in COMMeND, with enrichment for URM individuals using a holistic admissions approach; (2) To develop a mentoring network and program of activities that will provide scientific, career and cultural training and foster cross-disciplinary and cultural interactions among mentors and mentees, further enhancing our OM community; and (3) To monitor, evaluate and disseminate program outcomes by career stage and demographics and use the collected data to improve the COMMeND structure and activities. Following the successes of other training programs that are based on best practices and social science theories, we outlined a year-long schedule of activities: one-on-one mentoring sessions with an OM faculty mentor; webinars or didactics; grant reviews; travel awards to the ISOM and ARO meetings; subsidies to short skills courses; focus group discussions and interviews; and in-person socials. Mentors will undergo refresher courses including re-training on implicit bias, mentoring and the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR). We will also enlist peer mentors-coaches to check in with our yearly cohort of mentees. The combination of these activities as applied to an international mentoring network backed by ISOM as a professional society is innovative. Short-term outcomes for evaluation will include new funding or alternative award mechanisms, graduation or promotion to the next stage, leadership positions in relevant organizations, presentation of OM research, and publications. We will...