Mentorship Programs

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ML4H is proud to offer three distinct mentorship programs designed to support individuals at various stages of their careers in machine learning and healthcare.

By participating in any of the mentorship programs detailed below, we expect all mentors and mentees to abide by the ML4H Code of Conduct. To report any violations of the Code of Conduct, please contact info@ml4h.cc.


Author Mentorship

The Author Mentorship Program focuses on pairing less experienced authors with senior researchers to provide feedback on their paper submission, with the overall goal of improving submission quality and fostering future collaboration. The pairing process will be performed based on common research interests between the mentor and mentees.

Note that mentors will not discuss possible paper ideas with the mentees, and hence, mentees who do not already have a paper idea should not participate in this program. Further, authors who do not intend to submit a paper to ML4H 2024 should not participate in this program.

We especially encourage less experienced authors and participants from underrepresented groups to sign up as mentees, as well as senior community members to serve as mentors for these programs. This program involves two months of mentorship. Mentees will receive mentorship throughout various stages of their work, with mentors giving feedback/suggestions for improvement on aspects such as (1) the direction of the design; (2) models and experiments; (3) results analysis; (4) presentation/organization of the final paper they plan to submit to ML4H 2024.

Mentees and mentors are encouraged to have bi-weekly one-hour meetings to discuss the paper’s progress (e.g., the mentors and mentees matched during the first round will have approximately four one-hour meetings over eight weeks).

Note that signing up to be a mentor does not mean that you are an author on the paper, and it is not expected that mentees put their mentors as authors on the paper.

Timeline

July 5: Details about mentor-mentee pair ups sent out
July 8: Mentees are expected to have initiated contact with their mentor and arrange an initial meeting. In this meeting, the mentees should discuss the paper’s idea and outline with the mentors as well as the plan for their bi-weekly meetings
July 10 – Sept 6: Mentors and mentees meet on a bi-weekly basis to work on the paper. After each meeting, the mentees are expected to incorporate the mentors’ feedback and send an updated draft of the paper to the mentors.
Sept 6: ML4H submission deadline

Note: Mentors and mentees will be matched at random based on your shared research areas.

Apply

Application deadline

July 5, 2024, AoE (rolling)

Applications will continue to be accepted on a rolling basis. After July 5, when all mentors have been assigned, new applicants will be added to a waitlist until new mentors can be identified. As the Author Mentorship Program ends on Sept 6, new mentee applicants on the waitlist may not receive a match in time for the ML4H submission deadline.

Detailed Expectations

Mentees

As a mentee, you will be expected to:

  1. Share the draft of your paper with your mentor when matched, facilitating ample time for feedback from your mentor. 
  2. Schedule a recurring bi-weekly video or phone call with your mentor to gather feedback on the current state of your paper, including (1) the direction of the design; (2) models and experiments; (3) results analysis; (4) presentation/organization of the final paper.
  3. Consider feedback from your mentors during revisions of the paper, and discuss such revisions throughout the author mentorship timeline. 
  4. Share the current state of your paper with your mentor a few days before each scheduled meeting to allow time for your mentor to review it before discussing. 
  5. Submit your paper by the ML4H deadline on September 7th.
Mentors

As a mentor, you will be expected to:

  1. Thoroughly read the paper shared by your mentee before each scheduled meeting. 
  2. Provide thoughtful, constructive feedback on the paper. Your feedback can include (1) the direction of the design; (2) models and experiments; (3) results analysis; (4) presentation/organization of the final paper.
Joint Expectations

Both mentors and mentees are required to:

  1. Determine a mutually agreed bi-weekly date and time to discuss the paper before submitting on September 6th.

Reviewer Mentorship

The Reviewer Mentorship Program is an ongoing ML4H initiative to train junior reviewers, foster new connections and relationships in the ML4H community, and ultimately improve the quality of the review process. This program revolves around two primary components: mentors providing constructive feedback on review drafts, and mentees refining their reviews based on this feedback.

Timeline

Before Sept 13 (Prior to the review period):
– Mentees and mentors are matched by September 11.
– Optionally, an introductory video or audio call can be scheduled on or before September 12th.
Sept 13 – Oct 22 (During the review period):
– Mentee shares assigned papers with mentor at the beginning of the review period (September 13th). 
– Mentee shares review drafts with mentor on or before September 28th. 
– Scheduled feedback session takes place between September 28 – October 5th.
– Mentee incorporates feedback and submits the initial review to the system by October 5th. 
– The reviewer discussion period runs from October 13th – October 21st, during which mentee reads author responses and discusses them with the mentor and other reviewers. Review scores may be updated if needed. 
–  Revised reviews are submitted by the mentee by October 22nd. 
Oct 22 – Nov 20 (Following the review period):
– Mentees and mentors fill out a survey (by November 20) on the program’s effectiveness, and suggestions for improvement. 

Apply

Application deadline

August 30, 2024, AoE

Detailed Expectations

Mentees

As a mentee, you will be expected to:

  1. Share the PDFs of your assigned papers with your mentor at the beginning of the review period. 
  2. Share your review drafts with your mentor at least one week before the end of the review period (by September 24), facilitating ample time for discussion-driven revision. 
  3. Schedule a video or phone call with your mentor to discuss the assigned papers and gather feedback on your reviews. 
  4. Submit your review to OpenReview by October 5th. 
  5. Carefully analyze author responses and other reviewer comments, participate actively in the reviewer discussion period, and make necessary updates to your reviews. 
  6. Share the final version of your reviews with your mentor before the final submission. 
Mentors

As a mentor, you will be expected to:

  1. Thoroughly read the papers and the reviews shared by your mentee.
  2. Provide thoughtful, constructive feedback on the reviews. Your feedback should evaluate the scientific validity of the reviews and their adherence to reviewer guidelines and best practices.
Joint Expectations

Both mentors and mentees are required to:

  1. Determine a mutually agreed date and time to discuss the reviews before submitting to OpenReview by September 30th. Timeliness, thoroughness, and constructive feedback are paramount. 
  2. Diligently read and discuss author feedback and other reviews prior to participating in the reviewer discussion period and submitting the final, updated review. 

Feedback Session Structure

Mentors have the flexibility to structure the feedback session as they prefer. However, they are expected to read their mentee’s assigned papers and reviews, and formulate their feedback in advance. Rather than acting as an additional reviewer, mentors should focus on ensuring the mentee’s reviews are high-quality, constructive, and fair.

Resources


Career Mentorship

The Career Mentorship Program will take place remotely throughout the week before the symposium (November 1, 2024 – December 1, 2024), and will focus on pairing mentees with mentors who can provide advice on career-related topics (e.g., developing a long-term research plan, doing healthcare research in industry, work-life balance). The primary expectations of the program are:

  1. Attendance of an online one-hour group mentoring workshop on November 21, 2024;
  2. Participation in an hour-long 1-1 mentoring session to provide advice on the topics of interest.

We especially encourage less-experienced attendees to sign up as mentees, as well as senior community members to serve as mentors for these programs.

Mentors and mentees will be matched based on time availability and selected topics of expertise/interest for providing and receiving mentorship respectively. We will aim to match each mentor with 3-4 mentees.

We aim to gather a diverse pool of mentees and mentors. Please share broadly and do not hesitate to sign up if you are from an under-represented group in the field!

Timeline

Oct 15: Deadline for applying to participate in the ML4H Career Mentorship Program.
Nov 1: Mentor-mentee pairings are sent out.
Nov 4 – Nov 11: Mentees reach out to mentors to schedule a zoom call for the week before ML4H.
Nov 21: Group Mentoring session mentors and mentees can choose the session to participate in based on their availability and are welcome to join both sessions.
Nov 27 – Dec 1: Mentors and mentees meet for 1-1 discussion.

Apply

Application Deadline

October 15, 2024, AoE

Detailed Expectations

Mentees

As a mentee, you will be expected to:

  1. Prepare questions and topics of discussion with the mentors.
  2. Participate in the ML4H career mentorship program.
Mentors

As a mentor, you will be expected to:

  1. Read the resources provided for mentors.
  2. Participate in the ML4H career mentorship program.

Resources