Introduction: Urology faces a growing workforce shortage, with significant implications for patient care and access particularly in rural and underserved areas. There is a critical need to attract a large and multi-dimensional pool of trainees to address this shortage and meet the needs represented by this patient cohort.
Methods: A national, multi-faceted mentorship program was developed by the American Urological Association (AUA) to attract a wide-ranging group of medical students to urology. The program includes both virtual and in-person elements, as well as the creation of a resource library and funding/incubator efforts for grassroots organizations.
Results: Within one year, the AUA student mentorship program has grown rapidly to include 822 active users representing 610 mentees and 212 mentors in the virtual platform. Several in-person events have been held, with 70 mentees and 50 mentors participating in the most recent in-person program at the 2024 AUA Annual Meeting. Feedback from both mentees and mentors has been overwhelmingly positive (93% of mentees and 88% of mentors would recommend to others), fostering a strong sense of community and engagement.
Conclusions: The creation of the AUA student mentorship program - an innovative, comprehensive and international mentoring program - has demonstrated a specialty society driven pipeline program can engage meaningfully with medical students and potentially help address future workforce issues.
Keywords: medical students; mentorship; pipeline; rural; workforce.