# Peer group mentoring for racially underrepresented early career biomedical researchers: Identifying the unique influence of psychosocial support on personal gains and objective career outcomes

> **NIH NIH U01** · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · 2020 · $800,010

## Abstract

Abstract
Large sectors of the US population, especially certain racial and ethnic groups, remain underrepresented (UR)
in the biomedical research (BMR) workforce. Although the National Institutes of Health has employed diversity-
focused efforts to increase the proportion of UR scientists in BMR, these efforts have been largely focused at
the undergraduate and predoctoral level. Racial/ethnic underrepresentation is evident at each stage of the
BMR career trajectory, though the transitions from Postdoctoral Fellow (Postdoc) to Faculty and from Assistant
to Associate Professor represent points of greatest risk for attrition from BMR. Inadequate mentoring, less
access to role models, and isolation are implicated in racial/ethnic underrepresentation in academia. The
dyadic mentoring model for UR groups is limited because few senior UR faculty exist and because it may not
address the isolation experienced by UR scientists in BMR. Peer group mentoring is a strategy that builds a
mentoring community and several facilitated (by a senior faculty) peer group mentoring models for UR
Postdocs and Junior Faculty have shown promising outcomes. However, that research is uncontrolled and
does not permit the disentanglement of the contributions of psychosocial support from those of skills-based
mentoring.
The primary objective of this proposal is to determine the unique contribution that psychosocial components of
peer group mentoring make, above and beyond that of skills-based mentoring, to both personal gains and
objective career outcomes for UR early career biomedical researchers using a facilitated peer group mentoring
approach. The University of North Carolina and Duke University together will randomize 160 UR men and
women Postdocs or Assistant Professors in BMR to one of two, 9-month, peer group mentoring arms, stratified
by gender and rank, and facilitated by a senior UR BMR Faculty (with 6-8 peers/group),: 1) Skills-based only
to facilitate manuscript and grant writing skills and other academic products; or 2) Skills-based + Psychosocial
to include semi-structured discussions on topics such as microaggressions, the imposter syndrome, and
cultural capital. Participants will be assessed for short-term (self-efficacy, belonging, vulnerability to stereotype
threat, and professional identity), medium-term (career satisfaction and career commitment) and longer-term
outcomes (NIH grant scores, funding, publications, citations, retention, promotion) at interim time points during
and for a minimum of 2 years following the peer mentoring intervention. 50% of participants will provide
qualitative data (interviews, focus groups, and written narratives) to elucidate the mechanisms by which the
interventions influence outcomes. This research is expected to provide the evidence base for a scalable,
effective approach to mentoring early career, UR biomedical researchers at other institutions.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9975199
- **Project number:** 5U01GM132374-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL
- **Principal Investigator:** SUSAN S. GIRDLER
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $800,010
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-07-09 → 2024-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9975199

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9975199, Peer group mentoring for racially underrepresented early career biomedical researchers: Identifying the unique influence of psychosocial support on personal gains and objective career outcomes (5U01GM132374-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9975199. Licensed CC0.

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