Mentorship matters: the example of mentoring by Dr. Alberto F. García – a role model for future Colombian academic trauma and emergency surgeons

AbstractPurpose Little is known about the current status of mentoring and mentorship programs in the Colombian surgical community. This report aims to present the example of Dr. Alberto Federico García's mentoring to inform Colombian surgeons interested in mentoring young individuals who desire to pursue a surgical career. To this end, this paper describes Dr. Garcia's mentees' academic trajectory since they started working with him. Methods The academic trajectory of Dr. Garcia’s mentees was descriptively analyzed. Results Since 2015, 5 young physicians worked under the mentorship of Dr. Garcia at FVL university hospital in Cali, Colombia. All the mentees had a considerable rise in their research outputs since they started working with Dr. Garcia. Overall, the mentees submitted and presented abstracts in surgical meetings and got accepted into a residency program in general surgery. Conclusion This paper depicts a consistent improvement in the academic performance of Dr. Garcia's mentees during the period they worked with him, including research output and the mentees' personal goal of getting admitted to a general surgery residency program.