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Ferrari et al. Art Int Surg 2022;2:177-85 Artificial
DOI: 10.20517/ais.2022.16
Intelligence Surgery

Review Open Access

Mentorship and early career mentorship

2,3
2
Linda Ferrari 1 , Valentina Mari , Giulia Capelli , Gaya Spolverato 2
1
Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Department, Guy’s and St Thomas NHS foundation Trust, London SE17EH, UK.
2
Department of Surgical, Oncological and Gastroenterological Sciences (DiSCOG), University of Padova, Padova 35122, Italy.
3
Department of Surgery, ASST Bergamo Est, Seriate (Bergamo) 24068, Italy.
Correspondence to: Dr. Linda Ferrari, Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Department, Guy’s and St Thomas NHS foundation Trust,
Westminster Bridge road, London SE17EH, UK. E-mail: Linda_ferrari@libero.it
How to cite this article: Ferrari L, Mari V, Capelli G, Spolverato G. Mentorship and early career mentorship. Art Int Surg
2022;2:177-85. https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/ais.2022.16

Received: 28 Jun 2022 First Decision: 30 Aug 2022 Revised: 30 Aug 2022 Accepted: 19 Sep 2022 Published: 8 Oct 2022

Academic Editors: Gudrun Aspelund, Andrew A. Gumbs, Isabella Frigerio Copy Editor: Peng-Juan Wen Production Editor:
Peng-Juan Wen

Abstract
Mentorship is important for the personal and professional development of a surgeon. Surgical mentoring includes
technical and non-technical skills necessary for clinical activities, career improvement, leadership acquisition and
research development. Mentors are important in different phases of surgical career, conferring various forms of
support. The most delicate period for a surgeon is the transition between the role of trainee and physician, and the
first few years are crucial to the trajectory of future career. While in the past, the main limitation for mentorship
opportunities was the lack of available mentors at a single institution, more recently, long-distance mentorship
opportunities have overcome this barrier. This is of particular importance for women and underrepresented
minorities in surgery, who benefit the most from same gender and same ethnicity role model. Furthermore, having
the opportunity to establish productive relationships with mentors from other institutions and/or countries will
prevent the possibility of leading to dependence between mentee and mentor within a single institution. This
review aims to investigate different forms of mentorships, with a specific interest in early career support, long-
distance mentorship and opportunities for underrepresented minorities in surgery.

Keywords: Mentorship, early career mentorship, telementoring, long-distance mentoring

INTRODUCTION
The term “mentor” takes its origin from the Odyssey. When the Greek king, Odysseus, left for the Trojan

© The Author(s) 2022. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
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