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PERSPECTIVE article

Front. Oncol.
Sec. Pediatric Oncology
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1531784

Inclusive Mentorship of Pediatric Trainees: pediatric oncology as a microcosm

Provisionally accepted
Sadhana Jackson Sadhana Jackson 1,2Jessica W Tsai Jessica W Tsai 3,4Kyle L MacQuarrie Kyle L MacQuarrie 5,6*
  • 1 Pediatric Oncology Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland, United States
  • 2 Surgical Neurology Branch, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Bethesda, Maryland, United States
  • 3 Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States
  • 4 Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, United States
  • 5 Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States
  • 6 Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Mentorship is a critical part of career development for medical professionals. Mentees find value in mentors who share parts of their identity, and this role-modeling improves career development. In pediatric hematology-oncology specifically – reflective of academic medicine more broadly - the current pool of mentors is less diverse than the pool of mentees. Mentoring consciously in an inclusive manner is a way to support all mentees, not just those who share identity with the mentor. Utilizing skills such as microintervention and bystander intervention, all while focusing on allyship are tools that mentors can develop and use to improve their mentoring practices.

    Keywords: diversity, equity DEI Diversity, Equity, and inclusion DEIJ Diversity, inclusion, and justice STEM Science, Technology, Engineering

    Received: 20 Nov 2024; Accepted: 15 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Jackson, Tsai and MacQuarrie. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Kyle L MacQuarrie, Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.