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Despite efforts to increase the diversity of academia, minority scholars continue to face significant barriers (e.g., higher financial burden, lack of institutional support for research interests, social isolation) that undermine their representation in the field and overall professional success. Researchers have suggested increased mentorship as a means of mitigating these challenges. In 2015, with the support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a panel of senior investigators met via WebEx to discuss strategies to improve the mentorship of underrepresented scholars. The topics covered by this panel included: factors that optimize or challenge mentorship based on personal experience; what is special about mentorship in the context of race/ethnicity; relational dynamics; work/life balance, discrimination; and how to address challenges to the mentoring relationship. The current article provides an overview of the convening and synthesizes the lessons learned by panelists’ first-hand experiences of mentoring trainees and junior faculty of color. Authors conclude with recommendations and a description of the social and institutional implications of bolstering the professional support of minority scholars.

Objective: The aim was to assess the magnitude of health care disparities in treatment for substance use disorder (SUD) and the role of health plan membership and place of residence in observed disparities in Medicaid Managed Care (MMC) plans in New York City (NYC). Data Source: Medicaid claims and managed care plan enrollment files for 2015–2017 in NYC. Research Design: We studied Medicaid enrollees with a SUD diagnosis during their first 6 months of enrollment in a managed care plan in 2015–2017. A series of linear regression models quantified service disparities across race/ethnicity for 5 outcome indicators: treatment engagement, receipt of psychosocial treatment, follow-up after withdrawal, rapid readmission, and treatment continuation. We assessed the degree to which plan membership and place of residence contributed to observed disparities. Results: We found disparities in access to treatment but the magnitude of the disparities in most cases was small. Plan membership and geography of residence explained little of the observed disparities. One exception is geography of residence among Asian Americans, which appears to mediate disparities for 2 of our 5 outcome measures. Conclusions: Reallocating enrollees among MMC plans in NYC or evolving trends in group place of residence are unlikely to reduce disparities in treatment for SUD. System-wide reforms are needed to mitigate disparities.

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