ABSTRACT
The Cross-disciplinary Otitis Media Mentoring Network towards Diversity (COMMeND) is a first-of-its-kind
program within the otitis media (OM) community that will formalize existing collaborations into a mentoring
network and create new connections among OM researchers at different career stages, including early-stage or
new investigators (ESI-NIs) and individuals from under-represented minorities (URM). As the main cause of the
global burden of hearing loss in young children, OM is an important disease to study for its pathophysiology and
epidemiology and for which to design new strategies of prevention, early diagnosis and treatment, research that
are best done through international collaboration. Decades-long attrition in the OM workforce due to a very leaky
pipeline has led to loss of scientific and career opportunities. The main objective of COMMeND is to promote the
recruitment and retention of ESI-NIs and trainees from various disciplines and backgrounds in OM research. We
have put together a highly experienced leadership team and a pool of qualified OM faculty mentors and lecturers,
as well as garnered support from our home departments and two professional organizations with strong interest
in OM, namely the International Society for Otitis Media (ISOM) and the Association for Research in
Otolaryngology (ARO). To accomplish our goal, we have three Specific Aims: (1) To recruit into and retain
experienced faculty mentors and the top mentees (trainees and ESI-NIs) in COMMeND, with enrichment for
URM individuals using a holistic admissions approach; (2) To develop a mentoring network and program of
activities that will provide scientific, career and cultural training and foster cross-disciplinary and cultural
interactions among mentors and mentees, further enhancing our OM community; and (3) To monitor, evaluate
and disseminate program outcomes by career stage and demographics and use the collected data to improve
the COMMeND structure and activities. Following the successes of other training programs that are based on
best practices and social science theories, we outlined a year-long schedule of activities: one-on-one mentoring
sessions with an OM faculty mentor; webinars or didactics; grant reviews; travel awards to the ISOM and ARO
meetings; subsidies to short skills courses; focus group discussions and interviews; and in-person socials.
Mentors will undergo refresher courses including re-training on implicit bias, mentoring and the Responsible
Conduct of Research (RCR). We will also enlist peer mentors-coaches to check in with our yearly cohort of
mentees. The combination of these activities as applied to an international mentoring network backed by ISOM
as a professional society is innovative. Short-term outcomes for evaluation will include new funding or alternative
award mechanisms, graduation or promotion to the next stage, leadership positions in relevant organizations,
presentation of OM research, and publications. We will track the long-term progress of our mentees and whether
they continued with OM research at least 10 years after participation in the COMMeND program.