Promoting Integrity in the Research Enterprise – Mentoring

1. Promoting Integrity in the Research Enterprise – Mentoring Paul Braunschweiger Ph.D. Professor, Radiation Oncology University of Miami PBRAUNSC@MED.MIAMI.EDU SRA 2009, T35 , 10-20-09

2. Talking Points Integrity What is mentoring Why is mentoring important. Characteristics of mentors Mentors vs. research advisors Toxic mentoring Research on mentoring practices Case Study (Lisa Gray)

3. Integrity A personal and steadfast commitment to a set of moral or ethical standards defined by your religion, community or professional discipline. "Integrity" by Canneto, Columbus, OH

4. Why Does Integrity Matter in Research? • Puts subjects at risk. • Injures careers • Wastes Resources • Wastes Time • Undermines the Public Trust.

5. Integrity in the research enterprise "Integrity Protecting the Works of Man." John Quincy Adams Ward, 1903  • Starts with Institutional Commitment • Promoted and nurtured by the IRB, IACUC, IBC, ESCRO • Embraced by the investigators, staff and students as • “The right thing to do” • How do students and young investigators learn “The right thing to do” in their profession?

6. Promoting integrity in the Research Enterprise • Teaching the Responsible Conduct of Research • Books, Journal articles • Classroom experience • Seminars and conferences • Professional Societies • Web based courses and tutorials. • Mentoring

7. Mentoring The social fabric of science

8. Mentor and Telemachus by Pablo E. Fabisch, from Les Adventures de Telemaque, 1699

9. In More recent times, Mentoring was part of the “Guild” approach to learning an occupation. • The apprentice worked for years in the master craftsman’s employ. • More than just learning the skills of the trade. • “Socialization, acquiring the norms and standards, the values, attitudes, and behavior patterns associated with particular statuses and roles." Zuckerman • The masters generally served as role models, teaching less by precept than by example. • The Masters gained the moral authority to pass severe judgments on work that failed to meet comparable standards."

10. Andrea del Verrecchio (1435-1488) (1452-1519)

11. Mentoring is the social foundation of research. Mentoring is one of the primary means for one generation of scientists to impart their knowledge to succeeding generations. The relationship between mentor and trainee, prepare the next generation of science professionals. It is the mentor who has the potential to draw the best from the junior person by acting as an adviser, teacher, role model, motivational friend and supportive advocate. It is an ideal way to pass ethical and professional values to the next generation following, but, most research organizations do not directly address it as a core responsibility.

12. Role of Mentoring in Promoting Integrity Wocial, LD et al. 1995 “Importance of mentoring in promoting integrity in research.” Anderson MS et. al. 2007… “Mentoring may be best preventive measure for research misconduct and questionable research practices.” Wight, DE et al. 2008. Poor mentoring may have played a role in research misconduct cases.

13. Responsible Conduct of Research • Research Misconduct • Data Management • Conflict of Interest • Collaborative Science • Responsible Authorship • Mentoring • Peer Review • Lab Animal Welfare • Human Subjects Protection

14. A faculty adviser, A laboratory director, A fellow student, Another faculty member, A wise / experienced friend An administrator Anyone in a junior or apprentice position, An undergraduate student graduate student, A postdoctoral fellow, A junior research or faculty member . Mentor / Trainee Relationship Mentor Trainee

15. The Ideal Mentor • “The truly complete mentor." This is "a single individual who is able to serve as an advisor/guide, developer of talent/coach, opener of doors/advocate, role model, interpreter of organizational or professional rules, protector, rule setter/boss - and carries on all of these functions on a long term basis." Ideal mentoring may require input from more than one person! Silen, "In Search of the Complete Mentor," in Mentations, Volume 5-Fall 1998,at http://www.hms.harvard.edu/dcp/mentations/fall_98/searchofmentor.html

16. Mentoring Responsibilities • First and foremost, mentors in the sciences should help trainees develop as capable researchers. • Mentors need to be available. • Should be free of conflicts of interest so that they can be objective with the student or mentee. • Need to be willing to help trainees solve problems and provide advice. • Let trainee make their own decisions about their careers. • A particularly important mentoring role is that of advocate.

17. Responsibilities of The Trainees • Locate Prospective Mentors - Having identified general career interests, a trainee should look for someone who has been successful in this area • Characteristics to look for in potential mentors include: • Experience in the relevant area. • An interest in the trainee and his or her career. • A willingness to make the time to meet with the trainee. • An ability to provide the trainee with useful advice, not a rigid set of demands.

18. Responsibilities of the Trainees • Distinguish between Supervisors and Mentors • "mentor," "thesis adviser," and "research supervisor" • Mentors, • Information that is essential for professional success. • Research ethics. • How to obtain funding, • Manage a research lab or group, • Use time effectively, and • Understand departmental politics and institutional committees

19. Responsibilities of the Trainees • Distinguish between Supervisors and Mentors • "mentor“, "thesis adviser“, and "research supervisor" • Research Advisors • Research projects • Research methodology. • Technical experts. • Data management • Authorship issues Is it a good idea for the Research Advisor and Research Supervisor to be the same person? Yes?, No? Why?

20. Responsibilities of the Trainee • Be Clear about Needs and Expectations - A mentoring relationship should not be a passive one for either the mentor or the trainee. • take an active role in identifying and communicating needs and expectations as a professional-in-training. • The mentor's advice should not be accepted without reflection. • Ask questions • The trainee has the responsibility to evaluate the mentor's advice in light of his or her own values, goals, and experience

21. International trainees and particularly vulnerable • Most international graduate and postgraduate students come to the United States under very limited visas. • Dependent on maintaining a satisfactory relationship with the institutions that sponsor them. • Place them in particularly vulnerable situations. • E.g., a foreign trainee might be hesitant to report a case of suspected research misconduct for fear of jeopardizing visa status. • Exploitation, by advisors / mentors. • There might be reluctance to speak out about issues that are not directly related to research, such as harassment or landlord problems, but which can seriously affect their development, performance, and quality of life .

22. Toxic mentoring • The mentor-trainee relationship can be abused in many ways as a result of the inherent imbalance of power. • Mentors have more knowledge, experience, and status, and in most cases are in a position of authority over the trainee. • Even a mentor who is not very senior has a great deal of power relative to a trainee. • The trainee has much to gain from the mentor's support and advocacy, and fear of jeopardizing that support makes the relationship especially imbalanced.

23. Toxic mentoring • A mentor can use this power to exploit the trainee – • Refusing to give proper credit for the trainee's contributions. • Personal or even sexual favors. • A common complaint of trainees is that they are required to spend so much time working on the advisor / mentor's research that there is little time left for their own . • Toxic publication practices. • Exploiting the trainee to perform work that they will not be able to publish due to restrictions imposed by sponsors.

24. Mentoring and the Research Administrator • Everyone can benefit from the advice and council of more experienced colleagues. • Mentoring Relationships are invaluable for administrators who might find themselves in a sticky situation. • Research administrators need to understand the role of mentors in Academia. • Students. • Young investigators.

25. Plato and Mentor Socrates Socrates Plato Aristotle Alexander of Macedonia

26. Experiences of Mentors and MenteesSurvey Paul Braunschweiger, Ph.D. Ken Goodman, Ph.D. Sergio Litewka, MD CITI Program University of Miami Ethics Program

27. CITI ProgramWWW.CITIPROGRAM.ORG • Web based research ethics education program. • Human subjects protection • GCP • Lab animal welfare • HIPS - Health Information Privacy and Security • The RCR • Biomedical • SBR • Physical Science • Humanities • Research Administrators • Engineering • Satisfaction Surveys

28. The RCR Research Survey • Is provided to learner when the RCR Course is passed. • Is approved by UM IRB. • Is voluntary and anonymous • 2590 CITI RCR course completed per month. • 787 voluntary RCR surveys submitted / month • 29% Response rate.

29. Survey Structure • Web based survey • Multiple choice • Likert Scale questions • Navigation • Content and course design. • Value of the course to learner. • Suggestions for improvement. • Rating course. • Mentoring experiences

30. Working Hypotheses Although mentoring is crucial to the social and professional development of students and young investigators, mentoring programs are not wide spread in academia. The role of Mentor and Research advisor is often confused. Many people who mentors may be ill prepared for the job.

31. Who are the study subjects? n > 8900

32. Which course in the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) did you complete?

33. I now plan to take a more active role in promoting ethical research practices by:

34. If you DO NOT have a mentor at this time, choose all that apply to you.

35. Please respond to the following statement. "My mentor has been instrumental in providing the foundation to conduct research at the highest ethical standard”. 63% 13% strongly disagree strongly agree

36. As a student or fellow, what research topics did you and your mentor discuss most frequently? *% Responders; n=4706; 59% of all responders

37. Which Res. ethics topic do you and your mentor discuss? Didn't discuss research ethics Data acquisition and management most frequent answer.

38. As the MENTOR, which research ethics topic do you discuss most often with your trainees?

39. As mentors what research ethics topic do you talk about most with your mentees? Research ethics were not discussed very much. Most Frequent - Data Management

40. If you are mentoring students and post docs in research ethics or the responsible conduct of research, what background do you have to teach these topics to students? n = 3551 * = 32%

41. Background to be a Mentor.conferences, seminars, courses on mentoring

42. Sometimes the research advisor serves a dual role of mentor and research supervisorWhich choice most closely describes your situation.

43. Is Your Mentor and res. advisor the same person?YES!

44. Does your institution or organization have an official program specifically designed to match students and new faculty with more senior level faculty interested in mentoring?

45. Does your institution or organization have an official program specifically designed to match students and new faculty with more senior level faculty interested in mentoring?I DON’T KNOW!

46. Conclusions • Data management is the most common research ethics topic discussed by mentors and mentees • Students say many mentors don't talk about research ethics at all. • Mentors say not discussing research ethics is a rare event. • Rather low % of people mentoring students have specific training.

47. Conclusions • For > 2/3 of students the mentor and res. advisor are the same person. • Majority of survey subjects didn't know if their institutions had a mentoring program. • most pronounced in student groups

48. Summary • Mentoring is universally recognized as important for the socialization and professional development of future scientists. • Research administrators could realize substantial benefits from mentoring and a better understanding of the mentoring process. • Research administrators often find themselves in a position of being advisors to students.

49. Summary • Mentor and research advisor have separate roles. • Research advisor: oversight of the research. • Mentors: The guiding principle of mentoring should be protecting the interests of the trainee. • Students should not choose mentors and research advisors lightly. • Students have the responsibility of doing the due diligence to determine what they are getting into when they join a lab to begin their research career. • Institutions have a vested interest in providing a mentoring program to match students and faculty as well as young faculty and more established faculty.

50. The Nancy Ames Case - A Departmental Administrator or Grad Student Confidant. Nancy Ames - Department administrator Lisa Gray – Needy grad student Professor Young – Lisa’s Research advisor Professor Oldham – Dir. Grad. Student Program.,