UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center is committed to developing the next generation of community-oriented investigators through effective mentoring. The Mentoring Academy for Research in Cancer (MARC) advances excellence in mentoring and develops mentoring skills informed by local, regional, and national best practices. The person-centered program is comprehensive and advances personal, professional, and institutional growth.
Goal setting is a critical process for achieving professional and personal objectives, which is why individual development plans (IDP) are used to thoughtfully plan goals and timelines. IDPs also serve as a communication tool between mentors and mentees. IDPs have been shown to increase career satisfaction and productivity by 20 to 50%.
Cancer center mentees write and maintain their IDP and mentors guide the prioritization of tasks and goals. Mentees review their IDP with their mentors at least twice each year to assess progress and revise as necessary. The mentorship team also jointly reviews the mentee’s curriculum vitae (CV) to assess the mentee’s progress.
FAQs for the Online IDP system are available here
This system is currently only accessible to faculty, professional researchers, project scientists but will be expanded to other investigators in the future.
A complete list of Title Codes with access is available here
A cornerstone of MARC is an interactive, evidence-based curriculum implemented to support mentoring skills so that the mentee/mentor dyads can build and sustain successful mentoring relationships.
Workshop registration is managed by the Clinical and Translational Science Center.
All cancer center members, regardless of rank or level of training, will benefit from having mentors and mentoring teams throughout their career.
Mentors are advised to keep notes of meetings and develop a simple report afterwards. Mentees are also asked to take meeting notes and share them with their mentor. Mentee notes include topics discussed, goals, accomplishments, joys, frustrations, self-evaluation, and a record of who is responsible for carrying out tasks.
Mentors should provide regular feedback to mentees on their progress, accomplishments and areas for improvement. Ask mentees to conduct self-evaluation as well. Mentees should share brief meeting reports with mentors. Include topics discussed, goals, accomplishments, joys, frustrations, self-evaluation.
MARC provides a variety of in-person and virtual mentorship resources for mentees and mentors to self-select from as needed.
Supporting late stage postdoctoral scholars and early career faculty, the Near Peer Mentorship Program aims to provide just-in-time resources for a smooth transition to UC Davis’ campus. Topics covered include onboarding, organizational navigation, and professional goal- and milestone-setting. Mentoring dyads will meet weekly for the first month and then monthly for a duration of 12 months with brief consultations between meetings as requested by mentee.
In collaboration with the Office of Community Outreach and Engagement, the Cancer Leadership Academy is an 18-month program designed to prepare aspiring and emerging leaders through expert mentorship, coaching, and hands-on projects. Fellows will develop and cultivate key leadership skills to advance academic excellence, foster collaboration, drive organizational success, and champion community-engaged research.
Applications for the 2025-2026 cohort have closed. For more information, please contact:
Explore our Resources Page for cancer research opportunities at UC Davis and beyond, with easy access to ongoing offerings.
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