Strategies for mentor matching: lessons learned.

Mentoring serves to guide early stage researchers toward opportunities which can further their careers. The most beneficial mentoring experience occurs when both the mentor and mentee share a common background and have appropriate expectations. Our CTSA serves individuals in a five state region with widely disparate needs and we have often struggled to provide appropriate guidance for those requesting mentoring services. Here we present an overview of our past mentor identification strategy along with a proposed new direction to increase flexibility, sustainability and better serve researchers in our region.