Mentor-Trainee Compacts

To facilitate discussions between mentors and trainees on topics such as roles, responsibilities, and expectations, SGPS requires that faculty mentors and trainees follow appropriate guidelines for successful mentoring relationships as put forth by the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC).

Compact Between Postdoctoral Appointees and Their Mentors
"The Compact Between Postdoctoral Appointees and Their Mentors is intended to initiate discussions at the local and national levels about the postdoctoral appointee-mentor relationship and the commitments necessary for a high quality postdoctoral training experience. The Compact was drafted by the AAMC Group on Graduate Research, Education, and Training (GREAT) and its Postdoctorate Committee, and it is modeled on the AAMC Compact Between Resident Physicians and Their Teachers."

Compact Between Biomedical Graduate Students and Their Research Advisors
"These guiding principles are intended to support the development of a positive mentoring relationship between the pre-doctoral student and their research advisor. A successful student-mentor relationship requires commitment from the student, mentor, graduate program, and institution. This document offers a set of broad guidelines which are meant to initiate discussions at the local and national levels about the student-mentor relationship."

SGPS Appropriate Treatment of Research Trainees
"This document is based on the October 2021 publication created by the AAMC Group on Graduate Research, Education and Training (GREAT) with extensive excerpts from that document.

It is intended to highlight the importance of supportive and inclusive training environments for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. The AAMC Group on Research, Education, and Training (GREAT) recognizes the critical role that research trainees play in advancing biomedical research and sustaining our current research systems. Given their vital contributions to the research enterprise and to encourage their continued pursuit of research careers, it is imperative that research trainees are afforded every opportunity to develop and refine their talents in an ecosystem of respect. Although GREAT appreciates that the vast majority of scientists tend to abide by the respectful treatment of research trainees, this document acknowledges that these practices are not standardized or universal. Further, certain inappropriate behaviors may be challenging to name and address when they do not meet the threshold of violating specific university policies; however, any incidence of mistreatment is one too many and should not be tolerated. For research trainees to thrive, all scientists have a professional and ethical responsibility not only to demonstrate appropriate behaviors themselves, but also to speak out when they observe any inappropriate treatment of research trainees.

The overarching goals of the Appropriate Treatment of Research Trainees (AToRT) document are: 1) to affirm the shared principles that are essential for fostering supportive and inclusive graduate and postdoctoral training environments; and 2) to identify and consistently call out examples of behaviors that are incompatible with these principles..."