OVERVIEW
MI-RADS: Mentorship in Radiology is an innovative mentorship initiative founded at the University of British Columbia Department of Radiology intended to promote interest in and application to diagnostic radiology and radiology subspecialties among medical students who have been historically under-represented in the specialty, with a particular emphasis on medical students who identify as female.
RATIONALE
While in 2019 female medical students represented approximately 54.9% of current Canadian medical school graduates, only 31.6% of radiologists were female [1-3]. In certain radiology subspecialties, the representation of female radiologists is even lower, with only 10.6% of interventional radiologists being female [4]. The number of female medical students applying to radiology post-graduate medical education programs remains disproportionately low [5,6].
Early exposure to diagnostic radiology and mentorship of medical students have been identified as potential initiatives to increase interest in and application to diagnostic radiology, particularly among medical students who have been historically underrepresented in the specialty [1,7].
OBJECTIVES
MI-RADS was founded with the following objectives:
① To promote diagnostic radiology and radiology subspecialties among medical students
② To increase interest in and application to diagnostic radiology and subsequently radiology subspecialties among medical students who have been historically under-represented in the specialty, with a particular emphasis on medical students who identify as female.
③ To foster a community of support among medical students seeking to pursue a career in diagnostic radiology or radiology subspecialties.
LEADERSHIP
Resident Leads
Dr. Helena Bentley PGY-4
Dr. Joanna Yuen PGY-3
Dr. Morgan Young-Spiers PGY-2
Resident Mentors
Dr. Philip Edgcumbe PGY-4
Dr. Duncan Ferguson PGY-4
Dr. Daniel Cusano PGY-3
Dr. Erik Venalainen PGY-3
Dr. Morgan Young-Spiers PGY-2
Dr. Yilin Zhang PGY-2
Dr. Tyler Yan, PGY-2
Dr. Nafeel Ahmed PGY-2
Dr. Sargun Bajaj PGY-2
Dr. Melissa Kong PGY-1
Dr. Navjit Singh PGY-1
Dr. Siobhan Leir PGY-1
Faculty
Dr. Talia Vertinsky, Clinical Associate Professor
Dr. Kathryn Darras, Clinical Associate Professor
Resident Lead Alumni
Dr. Ali Silver PGY-5
Founding Residents
Dr. Ali Silver PGY-5
Dr. Helena Bentley PGY-4
KEY INITIATIVES
Key initiatives of MI-RADS include flash mentoring sessions, mentorship pods, and networking and social events.
Flash Mentoring Sessions
Flash mentoring emphasizes short mentorship sessions during which mentors are paired with an individual or group of mentees.
Mentor bios are provided to mentees ahead of the session and mentees may request which mentor sessions would be of greatest interest to them and in which to participate.
Flash mentoring sessions may also be accompanied by additional presentations delivered ahead of dedicated flash mentoring sessions, which may provide mentees with extra information on diagnostic radiology and radiology subspecialties.
During the inaugural MI-RADS virtual open house on May 10th, 2022 approximately 75 medical students from across the country participated. Two flash mentoring sessions were held at the end of the virtual open house, with mentees being able to switch mentors between sessions.
Mentorship PODS
A pod is a MI-RADS mentorship group, which is comprised of 3 to 5 medical student mentees, 2 radiology residents, and 1 radiology faculty. Pods are resident-led and faculty-supported.
MI-RADS pods launched in Summer 2022, with 40 medical student mentees participating from the University of British Columbia across 4 distributed sites.
Networking & Social Events
MI-RADS welcomed medical students from the Vancouver Fraser Medical Program to its first in-person social event during the Fall 2023 semester.
OUTCOME MEASURES
MI-RADS is committed to tangibly achieving its objectives. Over the next 3 years, MI-RADS will collate application data from medical student mentees and the University of British Columbia diagnostic radiology post-graduate medical education program.
ADDITIONAL DETIALS
More information about MI-RADS can be found in the Canadian Association of Radiologists Journal [8].
An overview of MI-RADS has also been presented at the 2023 International Conference on Residency Education [9].
SPONSORS
We thank FUJI FILM Canada for their generous support of the MI-RADS in 2022 and 2023.
If interested in sponsoring this initiative, please contact UBC MI-RADS.
REFERENCES
[1] Adham S et al. Analysis of Gender Disparity in US and Canadian Radiology Residency Programs. Current Problems in Diagnostic Radiology (2021): 1-4
[2] Alkhawtan RHM et al. Gender diversity among editorial boards of radiology-related journals. Clinical Imaging. 75 (2021): 30-33.
[3] Bucknor MD et al. Diversity and inclusion efforts in University of California, San Francisco Radiology: reflections on 3 years of pipeline, selection, and education initiatives. Journal of the American College of Radiology. 2019; 16(12): 1716-1719.
[4] Chapman CH et al. Current status of diversity by race, Hispanic ethnicity, and sex in diagnostic radiology. Radiology. 2014; 270(1): 232-240.
[5] Grimm LJ et al. Men (and women) in academic radiology: how can we reduce the gender discrepancy?. American Journal of Roentgenology. 2016; 206(4): 678-680.
[6] Joshi A et al. Female representation on radiology journal editorial boards around the world: geographical differences and temporal trends. Academic Radiology. (2020): 1-8.
[7] Lightfoote JB et al. Improving diversity, inclusion, and representation in radiology and radiation oncology part 1: why these matter. Journal of the American College of Radiology. 2014; 11(7): 673-680.
[8] Silver A, Bentley H, Darras KE and Vertinsky AT. MI-RADS: An Innovative Mentorship Initiative to Improve Gender Disparity in Application to Diagnostic Radiology. 2023. Canadian Association of Radiologists Journal. doi: 10.1177/08465371231160999.
[9] Bentley H, Silver A, Yuen J, Young-Spiers M, Darras K and Vertinsky AT. An innovative mentorship initiative to increase interest in and application to diagnostic radiology among female medical students fosters multiple CanMEDS competencies among participating medical student mentees and diagnostic radiology resident mentors. International Conference on Residency Education. 2023. Halifax, Nova Scotia.