Are you an early or mid-career biostatistician or bioinformatician looking for support to grow and develop your career? Or, are you a more experienced biostatistician or bioinformatician looking to share your skills and experience with a new generation of statisticians? If either of these sound like you then this program may be for you! The Biostatistics & Bioinformatics Section is piloting a 12-month mentoring program (1 month preparation and pairing, 10 months participating in the program, 1 month reporting period) in 2020 and are looking for 10 mentor-mentee pairs to take part. 

Our aim
This program will connect early and mid-career biostatisticians and bioinformaticians to experienced mentors to provide them with career advice and mentoring to help them achieve their professional goals.

Mentees
We are looking to recruit early to mid-career biostatisticians or bioinformaticians to take part in this pilot. To be eligible to participate, you must be within the first ten years of a career in biostatistics or bioinformatics, a member of the SSA, and be willing to commit to participating in the program over a 12-month period. Student members are welcome to apply.

Mentors
We are looking to recruit mentors who have at least ten years’ experience working as a biostatistician or bioinformatician. To be eligible to participate, you must be a member of the SSA and be willing to commit to participating in the program over a 12-month period. Prior mentorship experience would be beneficial but is not a requirement for participation.

Program details
The Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Section will match mentors to mentees and contact the mentee to seek approval to introduce them to the proposed mentor. Each mentor will only be assigned one mentee. Mentees are responsible for arranging the initial meeting and establishing ongoing meetings with the mentor. Ideally, mentors and mentees should aim to meet for one hour every 4-6 weeks during the 10-month program but, at a minimum, should meet four times during the pilot. There is no requirement that mentors and mentees live in the same city; meetings do not have to be face-to-face and may be held via phone or video conference as necessary. A member of the Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Section will be in touch throughout the program to learn how things are progressing and to help resolve any issues that arise. There is no expectation that the relationship continue beyond the 12-month pilot. However, we would be delighted if mentor-mentee pairs continue to talk beyond the program! Further details about the pilot will be provided before the program commences.
 
Interested?
To register your interest in participating in the pilot mentoring program, please complete the following google form here by 31^st October. Successful applicants will be notified by the end of the year, with the program commencing in February 2020. Mentoring will run from February to November.