Faculty Development: Career Development Programs

Mentoring Program

Mentoring has always been a part of medical training, perhaps the most rewarding part. At Children's Hospital Los Angeles, this experiential educational model is not limited to medical students or post-graduate trainees. Mentoring opportunities are available to faculty to help them improve their educational skills, particularly in the areas of teaching, grant writing, and conducting research and development of leadership skills/personal development.

The mentoring relationship is fundamental to so many of our training programs — from the LA-HIP program where high school students are taught laboratory techniques and perform studies under the supervision of experienced researchers, to the RN Residency program where newly graduated nurses are assigned an experienced nurse mentor, to the research training programs that include The Saban Research Institute Intramural awards and the K12 training program.

At the recruitment stage, faculty members at the level of Instructor or Assistant Professor are assigned a three-person mentoring committee by their Division Head and the Department Chair, documented in the offer letter. If you are unsure who has been assigned as your mentor, please notify the Faculty Development Team at FacultyDevelopment@chla.usc.edu.

Department of Pediatrics Faculty Mentoring Program

The Department of Pediatrics Faculty Mentoring Program is aimed at promoting and strengthening the academic success of Assistant and Associate Professors at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. The Mentoring Program provides an opportunity for department faculty to serve on one of two Institutional Mentoring Councils (IMC). One council will oversee Assistant/Associate Professors on the Clinical, Research and Tenure tracks. The other council will oversee Assistant/Associate Professors on the Clinician-Educator and Practitioner Tracks. Members of both IMCs will help further cultivate an environment of professional growth, scientific discovery, mentorship and ongoing support at CHLA.

Mentoring Committee Report Form

  • Junior faculty members should plan to meet with their individual mentoring committee twice a year and should complete a mentoring committee report form after each meeting, which can be found below.
  • We anticipate that mentored junior faculty members will have higher career satisfaction and increased engagement, motivation and productivity while simultaneously leading to a timely academic promotion. 
  • Once the mentee receives approval, the mentee will send all documents, including the updated mentoring committee report form, updated CV and last meeting goals to the Faculty Development Team at  FacultyDevelopment@chla.usc.edu.
  • Once the mentoring committee meeting is complete, the mentee is to revise the mentoring committee report form, include new goals and send to the primary mentor for approval.

Faculty Development Opportunities

Development Resources

Leadership Development Programs

Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Career Development

The Faculty Development Program at the Office of Academic Affairs has funding available to sponsor two pediatric women faculty members to participate in the annual AAMC Early Career and Mid-Career Women Faculty Professional Development Workshop. Funding opportunities will be announced as they become available.

Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM)

The OFA supports the application of faculty to ELAM, a competitive and highly selective program to prepare senior women faculty to move into positions of institutional leadership.

For more information, please click here.

ELAM Fellows:

  • 2011-2012: Michelle Kipke, PhD

We make every effort to keep these listings current and accurate. Please notify ooaa@chla.usc.edu if you notice an error or discrepancy.

Career Development Grant Opportunities

Pediatrician-Scientist Program (PSP)

The Pediatrician-Scientist Research Career Development Award Program provides new junior faculty members in the Department of Pediatrics with state-of-the-art mentored training in an academic research setting to stimulate pediatric research over a variety of disciplines, to assist junior faculty in their transition into productive pediatrician scientists in pediatrics and to promote the performance of research and transfer of findings that will benefit the health of children.

Research Career Development Award (RCDA)

The Research Career Development Award is considered as seed funding to help investigators generate preliminary data that can be used to support extramural research grant applications. This award is aimed at supporting a junior faculty member (MD, PhD, MD/PhD) for a research project that has a primary focus on laboratory research (dry or wet laboratory) or clinical (patient-related) research. 

Learn more about The Saban Research Institute.

K-R Grant Program

The K-R program offers a formal three-level process to assist scholars in the submission of K and R series NIH grants.

Additional Intramural Funding Opportunities

Read about more Saban Research Institute funding opportunities.