The Department of Internal Medicine at UTMB has received a grant from leading internal medicine organizations to build a more trustworthy health care system. The award, one of 24 nationwide, was presented by the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine, the American Board of Internal Medicine, the ABIM Foundation, the American College of Physicians and the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation to Dr. Maria Belalcazar, Associate Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at UTMB and a University of Texas Distinguished Teaching Professor.
The funded project will pilot a non-traditional mentoring program designed to support career advancement through peer networking and scholarship development. The initiative addresses challenges in faculty promotion and leadership present across academic centers. The “Leap to Action” project is particularly interested in early and mid-career faculty who have remained within their academic rank for over five years, many of them women and/or underrepresented minorities. Access to mentorship is associated with successful career advancement and promotion, faculty satisfaction and retention, and is a catalyst for academic productivity.