Health Equity Leadership and Mentoring (HELM): A health equity-focused early-career development program to promote biomedical workforce diversity

Abstract

Intentionally enhancing and supporting the early careers of individuals from populations underrepresented in science and medicine (URSM) is essential to achieving health equity. The Health Equity Leadership and Mentoring (HELM) Program at the University of Minnesota and the University of Utah is designed to foster academic excellence and build leadership capacity of postdoctoral fellows, clinical fellows, and early-career faculty who identify as URSM and/or who are committed to careers in health equity research and clinical care. HELM models a culture of psychosocial safety to create a sense of belonging and uses evidence-based and culturally aware mentoring and career development strategies with the goal of retaining diverse faculty. HELM proved agile and adaptive during the Covid-19 pandemic and has been successful in states with and without legislation limiting diversity programs. Across the 2 institutions, the HELM program has supported over 200 trainees and early-career faculty through mid-2024. Among HELM participants who joined the program as faculty, 85%-95% have remained in their faculty positions.