Through Mentorship Program, Pew Scientists Cultivate Community and Career Growth

Each year, Pew’s biomedical programs support a new group of early-career researchers who are taking innovative and creative approaches to advancing biomedical science. Over four decades, this network has grown into a global community of more than 1,000 alumni who are leading labs and mentoring the next generation of biomedical research scientists.

Pew launched a mentorship initiative in 2024 to encourage connection and learning for scientists beyond their time in the program. Alumni across a variety of research fields and career stages serve as mentors. The opportunity to have a mentor is available to scientists in their final year of Pew’s three programs: the Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences, Pew Latin American Fellows Program in the Biomedical Sciences, and Pew-Stewart Scholars Program for Cancer Research. As of 2026, alumni from the Latin American fellows community can also participate as mentees. Pairs meet over the course of the year, and the mentor offers support to the mentee in areas such as managing a lab and navigating the funding landscape.

Now entering its fourth year, the initiative has established mentoring relationships for more than 100 researchers across the Pew biomedical community. Some participants recently reflected on the importance of mentorship in science and how this network has driven next steps in their labs and professional journeys as well as helped to provide a sense of purpose beyond their research.

Fostering connection across institutions and career stages

“From my experience as a Pew scholar, I was able to feel like a part of this wonderful science community through annual meetings. It truly is like a family in the sense that people are extremely supportive of one another. I wanted to keep that connection going, so having the opportunity to meet my mentor, Raquel, a 2010 scholar, was so beneficial. I appreciated that she and I work at large public universities with teaching and scholarship responsibilities, which gave us common ground and made the advice especially relevant. For me, the greatest value in this program was not solving a specific problem, but building a sustained, trusted relationship with a more senior colleague whose responsibilities and experiences closely mirrored my own.”

—Xiaolu “Lulu” Cambronne, Ph.D., 2020 Pew biomedical scholar, University of Texas at Austin, paired with Raquel Lieberman

“I joined this program as a mentor because I like having the opportunity to meet with younger scientists and to stay connected to the Pew community. Getting paired with Lulu was a fantastic fit because we’re both at large public universities in the South. We work in different fields, but we had enough synergy across our research and institutions that it was easy for us to connect on everything from grants and publishing to managing the lab. I could listen without a vested interest in the outcome, draw on similar experiences, and help Lulu navigate challenges and advocate for herself. We’re all finding ways to balance our research careers with the rest of life, and it was rewarding to be able to pass along what I’ve learned.”

—Raquel Lieberman, Ph.D., 2010 Pew biomedical scholar, Georgia Institute of Technology, paired with Xiaolu “Lulu” Cambronne

Building a global professional network

“The Pew community is very important to me. I have made long-term friendships with colleagues I met during annual meetings. Building connections with alumni can be equally valuable, and this program allows you to connect with scientists who you otherwise wouldn’t. For example, despite being from Chile, I am more familiar with how I can access the scientific system here in the United States because I’ve been working here for many years. Talking with Andrés, I realized there are many things about science in Chile that are a little different in terms of hiring, grants, and running a lab. Our meetings also helped me realize that research careers are not always linear. I think understanding that your research career doesn’t necessarily follow a straight path—there can be different opportunities and directions along the way—is really important.”

—Emerson Carmona Rojas, Ph.D., 2021 Pew Latin American fellow, University of Washington, paired with Andrés Klein

“There is no such thing as a self-made person. We all need support at times, and I’ve been lucky to receive mentorship from really brilliant people. The Pew community is a great place for this. The network of researchers is fantastic, and we’re a very supportive community. This mentorship program is not about suggesting what kind of experiments to do in the lab. It’s about helping someone decide where they want to go and, based on that, build a path. Sometimes mentees feel that they are experiencing something unique when they’re going through career changes or challenges, but speaking to someone with more experience helps them realize these things are much more common than they expected—and possible to overcome.”

—Andrés Klein, Ph.D., 2009 Pew Latin American fellow, Universidad del Desarrollo, paired with Emerson Carmona Rojas

Charting career next steps

“There is value in connecting with someone outside my immediate niche or professional circle who can offer transparent opinions. As I began thinking about promotion, I benefited from hearing about Michelle’s experience, including lessons learned during the process. This helped me to anticipate important considerations before promotion became imminent for me. The mentorship program creates access to candid conversations that can otherwise be difficult to find. A lot of the things in our jobs come with policies and guidelines. But the person you are, in the position you hold, with whatever family responsibilities you have—that’s much more personal. It was also important for me to talk with my mentor about balancing professional and family responsibilities, since this area often lacks a straightforward ‘textbook’ source of guidance. It's helpful to learn how different people navigate these challenges.”

—Francine Garrett-Bakelman, M.D., Ph.D., 2021 Pew-Stewart scholar, University of Virginia, paired with Michelle Krogsgaard

“I have a special relationship with the Pew community because it gave me my first grant, and the annual meetings were very supportive. I wanted to be part of this mentorship program because I’ve also found there’s so much value and reassurance in having professional mentors who are at different career stages. Because no matter where we are in our journeys, many of us have experienced the same milestones and challenges when it comes to professional development, funding, and running a lab. The same goes for managing life outside of a lab. Especially for women in science, it’s important to have people who can show you it is possible to have a family and be a successful scientist. It comes with challenges, but being a parent will give you new and different superpowers that can make you an even better scientist.”

—Michelle Krogsgaard, Ph.D., 2007 Pew Biomedical scholar, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, paired with Francine Garrett-Bakelman

Hannah Romm works on The Pew Charitable Trusts’ biomedical programs.