Transformative co-mentoring: changing the healthcare profession by honoring roots and fostering wings

ABSTRACT

The underrepresentation of minorities from rural communities in U.S. health professions has resulted in a lack of cultural understanding and inadequate healthcare for people of color and the poor. Described is the Roots to Wings (RTW) program, a partnership between higher education institutions and Native American tribes and schools. The heart of the program is Transformative Co-Mentoring (TCM), a relationship between individuals, with the goal of fostering cultural understanding and creating lasting changes for those involved and their environments. RTW focuses on the implementation of TCM, which is practiced in teams of university medical students, Native Americans, and Latino students living on Native American lands. RTW seeks to increase American Indian/Alaska Natives (AIAN) and Latinos in the health professions, decrease health inequities, reform medical student preparation, and enhance health care professionals’ understanding of AIAN and Latino communities. Presented are preliminary findings of program impact from participants’ perspective and lessons learned.

KEYWORDS:

• Co-mentoring
• culturally relevant healthcare
• healthcare reform
• medical education
• native American and Latino healthcare
• transformative co-mentoring

Acknowledgments

Guest Editor Dr. Carol A. Mullen provided an extensive, detailed review of the earlier version of this manuscript and provided feedback on this article’s development.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mirna Ramos-Diaz

Mirna I. Ramos-Diaz is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics, co-founder and Director of Roots to Wings Transformative Co-Mentoring Program and Chair of the President’s Council for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences, in Yakima, Washington. She has multiple presentations at national and international symposiums including a TEDx Yakima in 2017 and at the International Mentoring Association in 2019. She has authored book chapters and articles in mentoring and has served as a pediatrician to Native American and Latinx communities. Her research interest is the integration of culture and mentoring in medical school curriculum.

Frances Kochan

Frances Kochan is a Wayne T. Smith Distinguished Professor Emerita and Past Dean of the College of Education at Auburn University, Al, U.S.A. She has served on the Board of the International Mentoring Association and is an editorial reviewer for a number of mentoring journals. She has authored over 100 publications including journal manuscripts, books and book chapters. Her primary research interests are mentoring, culture, and creating collaborative partnerships between and among individuals, groups, and institutions.