Brewer Russell A, Dyer Typhanye, Watson Christopher Chauncey, Scott Hyman
Louisiana Public Health Institute, 1515 Poydras, Suite 1200, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA.
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
AIDS Behav. 2016 Sep;20 Suppl 2(Suppl 2):258-64. doi: 10.1007/s10461-016-1488-5.
Increasing the diversity of the HIV research workforce remains a priority for research and funding organizations in the US. Mentorship is a vital component for early-career investigators, especially for underrepresented racial/ethnic and sexual minority HIV investigators. These investigators face unique social and structural challenges to developing and fostering mentorship relationships, as well as building a solid foundation for a successful career in HIV research. This article provides a perspective from four Black early-career investigators, supplemented with comments from 15 underrepresented investigators in the US, as they reflect on their needs, challenges, contributions, and successes in finding the right mentor and mentorship environment, balancing the opportunities for, and "threats" to success, as well as providing mentorship to other underrepresented and aspiring HIV investigators. Mentorship programs must address these needs and challenges while building on the strengths of underrepresented HIV investigators in order to improve recruitment, retention and ultimately the pipeline of these researchers.
增加艾滋病病毒研究人员队伍的多样性仍是美国研究和资助机构的一项优先事项。指导对于处于职业生涯早期的研究人员至关重要，尤其是对于在种族/族裔和性少数群体中代表性不足的艾滋病病毒研究人员。这些研究人员在建立和培养指导关系以及为艾滋病病毒研究的成功职业生涯奠定坚实基础方面面临独特的社会和结构挑战。本文提供了四位黑人早期职业研究人员的观点，并辅以15位在美国代表性不足的研究人员的评论，他们反思了自己在寻找合适的导师和指导环境、平衡成功的机会与“威胁”以及为其他代表性不足和有抱负的艾滋病病毒研究人员提供指导方面的需求、挑战、贡献和成功。指导计划必须在满足这些需求和挑战的同时，利用代表性不足的艾滋病病毒研究人员的优势，以改善这些研究人员的招募、留用情况，并最终增加其人才储备。
