Mentorship Is More Than Guidance—It’s Liberation

They say representation matters. But what happens when no one in the room looks like you—when you’re not just navigating medicine but decoding it for survival? That’s why mentorship, especially for those underrepresented in medicine (URiM), isn’t a luxury. It’s a lifeline.

At D.O.C.C., we believe mentoring is a radical act. Not just a connection, but a disruption. And we’re not doing it blindly—we’re building on evidence. Our model draws from Self-Determination Theory, Critical Race Theory, and decades of research affirming what many of us already knew deep in our bones: mentorship combats isolation, cultivates belonging, and opens the door to possibility.

A 2021 systematic review found that while URiM physicians remain underrepresented across academic ranks, mentorship—especially when supported institutionally and grounded in intentional frameworks—can improve career satisfaction, retention, and promotion.

But this isn't about plugging URiM students into outdated hierarchies. We’re building a mosaic, like Spaans et al. describe—a collective model of mentorship where one person doesn’t have to be everything. Instead, a village of mentors offers safety, strategy, and solidarity. Theory helps us make sense of why this works—and where it fails. A randomized controlled trial out of New York revealed that mentors trained in autonomy-supportive methods had a measurable, though short-lived, impact on protégés’ psychological needs: competence, autonomy, and relatedness. The takeaway? Training matters. So does timing. Sustained support, peer mentorship, and culturally congruent guidance make the difference between a mentor and a milestone.

At D.O.C.C., our model is layered. It’s multi-tiered. It’s critical. It sees race, sees the system, and sees our students—fully. We draw from Critical Race Theory to name what’s often left unspoken: that mentoring across difference requires awareness of power, history, and bias. This work isn’t just emotional labor; it’s structural intervention.