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    Compact Between Postdoctoral Appointees and Their Mentors

    A framework for aligning the postdoctoral mentor-mentee relationship

    The Compact Between Postdoctoral Appointees and Their Mentors is intended to initiate discussions at the local and national levels about the postdoctoral appointee-mentor relationship and the commitments necessary for a high quality postdoctoral training experience. The first version of the Compact was disseminated in 2006. It served as a model for the AAMC Compact Between Biomedical Graduate Students and their Research Advisors. In 2016, a team consisting of representatives from the AAMC Group on Graduate Research, Education, and Training (GREAT Group) and AAMC Council of Faculty and Academic Societies (CFAS) reviewed and updated the document. Input on the revised draft was received from the GREAT Group, CFAS, and AAMC staff leadership. We encourage members of the postdoctoral community to utilize and share this document.

    Download the Compact (PDF)

    To order print copies of the compact, please visit Publications.

    Possible Uses

    The compact is intended to provide postdoctoral program directors, administrators, faculty, postdoctoral appointees, and other institutional leaders with a model document that might be used as is, or as modified in accordance with local circumstances. Among the potential uses that have been suggested are the following:

    • As a starting point for discussions among postdoctoral program directors, administrators, faculty, postdoctoral appointees, and other institutional leaders about the issues addressed by the compact
    • As a recruitment tool to signify programmatic commitment to postdoctoral appointees
    • As an attachment to offer letters from mentors to postdoctoral appointees
    • As part of a contract that could be signed by the postdoctoral appointees and their mentors as a pledge to uphold its commitments
    • As part of the orientation for new postdoctoral appointees
    • As part of the orientation for new faculty
    • As a component of the appointee-mentor annual evaluation process
    • As a topic to be discussed in faculty mentorship programs
    • As a component of faculty evaluations
    • As part of an educational database for faculty promotion