The USCAP Mentoring Academy
Mentoring is a fundamental human relationship in which one person invests time, energy, and expertise to nurture the growth of another. Mentors vary considerably in style, yet each contributes significantly to the professional and personal growth of a junior colleague through his/her wisdom, knowledge, and expertise.
Mentoring has been an intuitive core value of USCAP for years, but the process had not previously been formalized as structured relationships between mentors and mentees. This changed with the inauguration of the USCAP Mentoring Academy at the 2018 Annual Meeting. The immeasurable mutual benefits of a mentoring relationship culminate in creating a better pathologist. The USCAP Mentoring Academy is the vehicle by which to partner with someone who will make a difference in your life.
Mentor/Mentee dyads define their relationships by profile matching, goal setting and behavioral guidelines, managed through a web-based program designed to facilitate success. Participants have the option of opting out if the relationship doesn’t work or continuing it if it does.
The current champions for this endeavor are the program chair, Dr. Celeste N. Powers, the Executive Vice President, Dr. David B. Kaminsky and the program coordinator, Deborah Waterhouse.
At the conclusion of the pilot year, the program was evaluated to determine the efficacy of the web platform and its facilitation of the mentoring relationships of the initial dyads.
Mentor survey results indicated that 73.33% of mentors agreed they were satisfied with program experience; 86.67% of mentors agreed they helped their mentee achieve their goals; 86.67% of mentors were very satisfied or satisfied with the quality of their match. From the mentees’ perspective, their survey results reflected that 100% of mentees strongly agreed their mentor helped them achieve their goals; 100% agreed they were satisfied with the program experience and 100% were very satisfied with the quality of their match.
In 2019 and 2020 Mentoring Academy Receptions for the dyads at the USCAP Annual Meetings encouraged connectivity and exchange of ideas about the efficacy of the program, how it could be improved, and why mentoring itself is invaluable.
The next cycle of the mentoring Academy opens on November 4, 2020 (with a refined web platform) and continues for twelve months, welcoming new dyads, continuing successful relationships and reinforcing the attributes of the mentoring process.


Some mentor/mentee relationships have changed the world. Dr. Stuart J. Schnitt and Dr. Laura C. Collins have had an enduring relationship that refined breast cancer diagnosis, education and research with global benefit.

How to Join the Mentoring Academy
You must be an active member of USCAP and live in the United States in order to qualify for the academy. If you meet these qualifications and would like to join, please click on the “Join the Academy” button to get started.
If you live in the US and are not a member, but would like to join, please click on the “Get USCAP Membership” button.
Mentoring is a profoundly and uniquely human attribute-
No other living creature has the capacity to build knowledge and pass it on as an enduring legacy.
– Sharon W. Weiss, MD
Testimonials from Pilot Program
The mentoring academy has been an extraordinary and positive impact on my career development in the past year. I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity and those that have followed.