Mentoring

All Y-UPR mentors have taken the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation (YCCI) course on mentoring. All junior HIV investigators will be assigned 1-2 mentors to assist in career development, grantsmanship as well as scientific publications and presentations.

The development of early-career investigators within an environment of limited resources, increasing teaching duties, and the absence of a majority of faculty with R-type (i.e., R01, R21) NIH-funded programs is a major problem facing the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus. As a consequence, there is a shortage of professional mentorship by experienced and stably R01-funded investigators who can commit to mentoring junior faculty from the outset and help them identify the best strategies for program development and grantsmanship in an individualized manner. Despite this limitation, targeted faculty development programs have been able to provide individualized goal-setting and direct grant coaching to early-career investigators with tangible benefits. A unique feature of our programs is that faculty mentees are at a different stage of development with regards to the skills that are expected in NIH-funded investigators. Therefore, the mentoring plan for each candidate is tailored to where they are career-wise and how best to use their existing assets and opportunities in coming years.

Mentoring resources at the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus

• Carmen Zorrilla, MD - HIV/AIDS -Women’s Health, vaccines
• Valerie Wojna, MD - HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders
• Loyda Meléndez, PhD - HIV neurocognitive disorders
• Vivian Colon, PhD - PR HIV surveillance, epidemiology
• Jorge L. Santana, MD - ACTG, HIV vaccines
• Yamil Gerena, PhD - HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders