Mentoring

Mentor Match Events

On September 26, 2013, 30 plus African American medical doctors participated in the inaugural mentoring network event held at Eastern Virginia Medical school. The purpose was to expose minority medical students to minority physicians that practice in various specialties. After a brief program, students and mentors were paired in a rotating fashion with a certain amount of time to talk with each physician. This way each student was able to speak with each physician and were later paired with a mentor that they would work with for this year-long program.

Since that time, the medical society and Eastern Virginia Medical School, through their department of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, have co-sponsored annual mentoring events. The program has been successful in facilitating exposure of the medical students to active local medical practices. The program has also allowed more minority primary care physicians to become mentors in the medical school’s Longitudinal Generalist Mentoring Program.

Currently, the mentoring program also includes activities that promote socialization and celebration between the two groups. Some of these activities include a minority medical school graduate reception in the Spring and a welcome reception for new minority medical school graduates in the Fall. We also have a “Holiday Social” in November/December where everyone has ample time to catch up and network. On occasion, pre-medical students from Norfolk State university, Old Dominion University and Hampton University as well as medical masters students from EVMS have been invited.

Click here for pictures of our last “Holiday Social”  held on December 13, 2024

Over the last decade the program has expanded to include minority pre-medical, medical master’s, and college students from Norfolk State University, Hampton University and Old Dominion University.