Outcomes of a pilot virtual mentorship program for medical students interested in surgery

Background: Lack of mentorship may deter medical students who identify as underrepresented minorities (URM) from entering academic surgery. Methods: 30 mentor-medical student pairs from the AWS 2020 virtual mentorship pilot-program were surveyed pre-and post-program to explore 1) feasibility of meetings, and, 2) program's perceived efficacy in fostering professional development skills. Participants responded using a 5-point Likert scale (1 = not at all; 5 = completely). Proportions of participants in each category were compared. Results: Proportion of participants perceiving monthly meetings to be completely feasible did not differ from preto post-program surveys for mentees (75%(21/28) vs. 71%(12/17); p = 0.743) or mentors (71%(17/24) vs 71% (13/18); p = 1.00). Compared to pre-program responses, mentees endorsed "completely" (Likert scale 5) improving with regard to their elevator speech (p = 0.001), developing their curriculum vitae (p = 0.003), ability to network (p = 0.021), and acquiring skills for career advancement (p = 0.003). Conclusion: Virtual mentorship may be a feasible and effective means of increasing access to mentors for URM medical students.