The Second Mountain: Climbing the Challenges of Midcareer Radiology

The Society of Thoracic Radiology Mentorship Program: A Paradigm for Professional Societies

The Society of Thoracic Radiology (STR) membership enthusiastically embraced the launch of its mentorship program, with peaks in participation and engagement after annual meetings and during the COVID pandemic. The program provides a valuable resource for early to mid-career thoracic radiologists, especially those lacking local resources. This report describes the program's inception and design, and summarizes the program's successes and challenges at 5 years, based on a 2023 mentorship survey. STR mentees, spanning early to mid-career stages, most frequently sought mentorship in career development, graduate medical education, research portfolio development, publishing, cardiac imaging, grant funding, and artificial intelligence. Mentors offered expertise in these areas, plus lung cancer screening, career development, and workplace navigation. The committee prioritized creating dyads based on mutual interest and expertise, achieving mutual top-choice match rates of 70% to 97%. Enduring dyads flourished as the program matured. At 5 years, a survey of participants was fielded. Mentees reported moderate to high program impact on scholarly activities, leadership, networking, clinical service, education, and career satisfaction. Mentors described satisfaction in their roles, highlighting networking, career satisfaction, and the opportunity to influence upcoming generations of cardiothoracic radiologists, thereby impacting the field's future. Most participants expressed high career satisfaction. Descriptive comments further enriched findings. Survey results confirmed that strengthening dyad formation and enhancing mentoring outcomes remain pivotal. Remote mentorship, while valuable, presents challenges-personal connections and contextual familiarity, considered essential to successful mentorship relationships, are typically absent in these settings. Activities to potentially enhance the STR mentorship program are offered.

First Year in a New Leadership Role: Lessons Learned

When discussing leadership, multiple questions arise: what does it mean to be an effective leader?; what are the characteristics of a person that make them so?; and are leaders born, or are they made? Organizations need effective leaders at all levels, especially in the constant and rapidly changing landscape that is healthcare provision. Those in senior leadership roles should encourage junior team members to engage in leadership activities appropriate to their level of comfort and expertise. Integrity and principle are also essential leadership characteristics, particularly when faced with making decisions that are difficult, or considered to be "unpopular." Organizations that wish to develop and maintain effective leadership programs must ensure that they balance the needs of the organization with those of the leaders. Adequate space must be made to facilitate leadership activities as well as personal, academic, and clinical duties. Ultimately, leadership takes practice and persistence on the part of the leader themselves, but also on the part of the organization in which they work.

Maximizing Mentorship Throughout Your Breast Imaging Career

Unlike many other subspecialties in radiology, breast radiologists practice in a patient-facing and interdisciplinary environment where team building, communication, and leadership skills are critical. Although breast radiologists can improve these skills over time, strong mentorship can accelerate this process, leading to a more successful and satisfying career. In addition to providing advice, insight, feedback, and encouragement to mentees, mentors help advance the field of breast radiology by contributing to the development of the next generation of leaders. During the mentorship process, mentors continue to hone their listening, problem-solving, and networking skills, which in turn creates a more supportive and nurturing work environment for the entire breast care team. This article reviews important mentorship skills that are essential for all breast radiologists. Although some of the principles apply to all mentoring relationships, ensuring that every breast radiologist has the skills to be both an effective mentor and mentee is key to the future of the profession.