Abstract
PROBLEM: Academic medical institutions face longstanding challenges in recruiting and retaining historically excluded, midcareer research faculty. Although progress in recruiting has been documented, retention has focused on individuals rather than a system-level approach. APPROACH: The University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Mid-Career Development Program was launched in 2020 to advance and retain historically excluded research faculty (scholars) and their historically excluded mentees via a novel program that provided faculty discretionary funding of $150,000 per person over 2 years, a structured career development curriculum, networking with executive campus leaders, personalized and peer group mentorship, and sponsorship. A formative evaluation in 2024 collected baseline and follow-up data on scholars' and mentees' academic output and leadership attainment. OUTCOMES: Between 2020 and 2024, 7 midcareer scholars and 35 mentees have benefited from the program. The first 2 cohorts of scholars documented academic rank and step advancements; scholarly outcomes, including 119 articles and $2.3 million in new National Institutes of Health (NIH) career awards; and key campus and national leadership roles. These changes reflected not only standard accumulated academic experience but also increased leadership opportunities previously unavailable to participants. Multiplier effects were documented among the scholars' primary mentees, who were awarded $2 million in NIH career awards and published 194 peer-reviewed manuscripts, for an overall program total of 313 articles. This model program showed a return on its initial $1.05 million investment: for every dollar spent, the program generated $3.10 in NIH funding-a 310% return on investment. NEXT STEPS: Program leaders and UCSF executive leadership are working to promote program sustainability. Additionally, collection of comparison data for program outcomes among participants and comparable faculty applicants for the program, who met criteria and were not enrolled due to space limitation, is being planned to enhance the pilot program results and, if successful, scale to other sites.