UCSD - University of California - San Diego

01/13/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 01/13/2026 04:25

Mentorship, Empathy, and the Art of Medicine: UC San Diego’s Mentor Clinician Program

Published Date

January 13, 2026

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In the fast-paced world of medical education, where the learning process can feel akin to drinking from a firehose, one program at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine has quietly transformed how tomorrow's physicians learn, grow and connect with their patients.

The Mentor Clinician Program (MCP), facilitated by the Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion, pairs medical students on their third-year clinical rotations with experienced physicians to provide individualized guidance on clinical skills and compassionate patient-centered care. Critically, and unlike virtually every other aspect of medical education, the MCP is non-evaluative, providing students with a safe space to ask questions, address challenges and develop both clinical and humanistic skills without the pressure of a formal evaluation.

Now, as MCP enters its tenth year, its reach is expanding - bringing its unique model of mentorship and humanistic teaching to medical schools across the country.

Chris Cannavino is a pediatric infectious diseases physician at Rady Children's Hospital and directs the Mentor Clinician Program at UC San Diego School of Medicine.

Chris Cannavino, MD, clinical professor of pediatrics at the UC San Diego School of Medicine and director of the Center for Mentorship in Medicine within the Sanford Institute, launched MCP a decade ago to address a growing gap in medical training.

"Mentorship has always played an important role in medical education, but medicine today is very different than it was 150 years ago," Cannavino, who is also a pediatric infectious diseases physician at Rady Children's Hospital, explained. "Attending physicians are stretched thin, patient volume and complexity are up, and students often spend just a few days with any given mentor. The chance to build real relationships and receive meaningful feedback has gradually gotten lost."

Historically, medical students learned to treat patients through apprenticeships, spending weeks or months under the guidance of a single attending. Nowadays, students rotate rapidly through teams and specialties, only "lucking into" meaningful mentorship by chance.

"We saw a real opportunity to bring intentional, longitudinal mentorship back into the core of clinical training," said Cannavino.

MCP comes in at a critical juncture in a medical student's training. While the first two years of medical education are focused on gaining knowledge in the classroom, students in their third year begin the transition to caring for patients by rotating through a series of clinical clerkships in the major fields of medicine. MCP pairs third-year medical students with experienced mentor clinicians who serve as third-party dedicated coaches throughout these clerkships, providing individualized, iterative feedback in a strictly non-evaluative role.

When it launched, MCP provided mentorship only during students' pediatrics clerkship. Today, MCP is firmly established in each of the core clerkships at UC San Diego School of Medicine, allowing students to connect with and learn from a variety of mentors in different clinical environments.

Mutual Benefits

Erin Stucky Fisher, MD, one of the program's original mentor clinicians and clinical professor of pediatrics at UC San Diego School of Medicine, has mentored hundreds of students over the years. "The time and trust built into MCP allow for real teaching, not just about the science, but about the art of medicine," she said. "I've watched students grow in confidence, skill and empathy, and many have stayed in touch after their time in MCP ended."

Fisher notes that the program's impact extends beyond clinical skills. "One of the most powerful things about MCP is the way it teaches students to be present, to listen and to see patients as whole people. That's something you can't learn from a textbook."

Caitlin Toney, MD, a former mentee of Fisher, has carried the program's lessons into her career. As a pediatric hospital medicine fellow at UC San Diego, she's now working with Cannavino to implement MCP for UC San Diego's pediatric interns - trainees who have completed medical school and are beginning the transition to practicing as resident physicians.

"I made more progress in a month with MCP than I had in three years," she said. "The feedback was individualized and the environment felt truly safe. It has shaped how I teach and support trainees, and most importantly, how I approach patient care."

MCP can also set medical students off on an unexpected career trajectory. This was the case for UC San Diego pediatric chief resident Haley Moss, MD, MPH, who participated in the program during her third year of medical school and will become chief pediatric resident at UC San Diego this year.

Erin Stucky Fisher (left) and Caitlin Toney (right) were a mentor/mentee pairing in the MCP. Today, Toney is a pediatric hospital medicine fellow.

"I started my rotation convinced I would never go into pediatrics, but the support and environment hooked me. Now as a resident, I want to pay it forward," Moss added.

"MCP gave me someone to back me up, answer my questions, and help me learn without the stress of being evaluated."

However, the benefit of MCP does not stop with the medical students. The program also prioritizes job satisfaction and professional development for faculty serving as mentors./p>

"The mentor clinician is a unique role wherein faculty are provided protected time to directly observe and coach the medical students - developing a true mentoring relationship over time," said Cannavino. "The third-party structure allows mentor clinicians to do all of this outside their responsibilities in direct patient care. This type of mentorship isn't feasible in busy clinical settings, yet it's the reason why many went into academic medicine, so it 'fills their cup' and increases their own personal wellness and professional satisfaction."

"When we started, we had a core group of seasoned medical educators," recalled Cannavino. "Now, we intentionally recruit junior faculty, conduct faculty development and pair them with senior mentor clinicians, creating a pipeline of teaching excellence and mentorship at every level."

For many faculty members, such as Moss' former mentor and long-time mentor clinician Dan Lesser, MD, MCP is a professional highlight.

"Serving as a mentor clinician is one of the great privileges of my career," said Lesser, who is clinical director of respiratory medicine at Rady Children's Hospital. "It's a chance to step back from the pressures of direct patient care and focus on teaching, reflection and helping students navigate the unwritten principles of medicine."

For mentees, learning these principles is an invaluable benefit of the program.

"The soft skills are just as important as the medical knowledge," said Moss. "MCP helps you learn how to be a doctor, not just do doctor things."

The MCP Experience

Medical students meet multiple times with their mentor clinician across the clerkships, both one-on-one and in small groups. These sessions include direct observation of the student's clinical work, bedside teaching, formative feedback, and candid conversations about everything from patient communication to handling mistakes. The mentor clinician's singular focus is on helping students develop as physicians, and all interactions are non-evaluative: nothing discussed in these sessions is reported to grading committees or on residency applications.

"Having a mentor who's there just for you, not evaluating you, makes all the difference," said Toney. "You can ask the 'dumb' questions, talk through real challenges, and focus on growing as a doctor and as a person."

This safe, formative environment is consistently cited as one of the program's greatest strengths. Third-year medical students, many of whom are used to academic success, often feel vulnerable and exposed when they first begin to work in clinical settings. Knowing that their mentor is there only to support them -not to judge or rank them - unlocks a level of honesty and a growth mindset that's hard to achieve elsewhere.

As part of the Mentor Clinician Program, Chris Cannavino conducts clinical reasoning rounds with mentees at Rady Children's Hospital, where the group discusses current cases, focusing on the critical thinking skills essential to the practice of medicine.

The program's structure also encourages continuity. While students work with different mentor clinicians on different clerkships, many form lasting relationships, continuing to seek advice and support long after the formal rotation ends. For some, MCP also helps inspire them in their eventual choice of specialty.

Behind the scenes, program coordinator Shannon Kadlec, MPH, keeps the wheels turning by managing the logistics involved in organizing mentors and mentees, such as coordinating schedules and collecting feedback.

"It's a lot of moving parts, but the payoff is huge for students, faculty, and ultimately, patients," said Kadlec.

The program's impact is tracked through student and faculty evaluations, as well as focus groups and longitudinal data collection. According to Kadlec, this feedback has been "overwhelmingly positive."

"Students report increased satisfaction with their clinical training, the learning environment, and feedback provided by mentor clinicians, as well as improved communication skills and greater confidence in their doctoring skills," she said. "Even faculty who aren't mentor clinicians say the program has improved their own teaching and clinical practices and the overall learning environment at the School of Medicine."

Going National

With more than 1,300 UC San Diego medical students having come through the program, MCP's success has sparked interest from other top medical schools. This year, MCP opened its doors to external partners, launching a multicenter MCP study at seven institutions, including the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)/University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW). Partner institutions are now working closely with UC San Diego to tailor the MCP to their own environments, using facilitation guides and regular meetings to incorporate best practices and ensure fidelity to the program's core values

Morgan Greenfield, MD, pediatric hospitalist and clerkship co-director at CHOP, was immediately drawn to MCP's model. "Direct, formative feedback is indispensable, but hard to provide in today's busy clinical environment," she said. "MCP offers students longitudinal coaching and a psychologically safe space to grow. We're excited to bring this innovation to our learners."

Greenfield notes that the program's emphasis on formative, non-evaluative feedback is especially valuable. "Our students crave honest feedback and mentorship, but the realities of clinical training often make that hard," she said. "MCP creates a structure where growth is the goal, not just performance."

At MCW, Ashish Shah, MD - who completed his medical training in Wisconsin and served as a mentor clinician at UC San Diego before returning to the Midwest - has championed MCP's adoption. "As a junior faculty member, MCP was my favorite educational experience," Shah said. "It builds real relationships, helps students feel seen and supports faculty development. The impact is clear, and our institution quickly saw its value."

Related content

MCP Testimonials

These reflections were compiled as part of MCP's longitudinal data collection.

"This is a fantastic program that has allowed me, as a third-party observer, the unique opportunity to give detailed feedback and coaching to medical students in a manner that is not possible given the time constraints and lack of longitudinal exposure in the clinical environment. It's been amazing to see first-hand the students' rapid clinical skill development in both the science and art of medicine." - Mentor Clinician

"This was by far the most beneficial part of my 3rd year clinical experience. This was the first time I had an unbiased teacher there strictly to teach me how to improve. Overall, this program made me more confident- reassured what I was already doing well, where I could use more practice, and followed-up longitudinally. I made more improvements in a single month than I have in three years. I feel so much more prepared for 4th year and any future rotation because of this." - Medical Student

"I really appreciated how our MC emphasized the humanistic side of rounding, as well as medicine. She pulled us back from only seeing illness and focused on the patients as well as the family. Although seldom done, it's wonderful that she was able to give us some pointers on the art of medicine." - Medical Student

Shah emphasizes the importance of growing MCP. "We're piloting MCP in pediatrics, but the long-term vision is to expand across specialties, just as UC San Diego has done. While different specialties have their nuances, the underlying principles of MCP - mentorship, empathy and individualized feedback - are universal."

The process of scaling and adapting MCP for new settings is collaborative and ongoing. "We're working with our partners every step of the way," added Kadlec. "The goal is to preserve the core values while allowing each institution to make the program their own."

At present, MCP is limited to the pediatric clerkships of the partner institutions, but just as the program expanded at UC San Diego, Cannavino hopes to see it evolve and grow in these new settings and beyond. The goal is to develop a consortium of medical schools that fundamentally change the structure of clinical medical education.

"I hope MCP becomes the gold standard for clinical training. not just at UC San Diego, but nationwide. If we want to make better physicians, this is the way to do it."

For students, faculty and partner medical schools, MCP represents more than a curriculum change; it's a cultural shift toward mentorship, empathy and lifelong learning. As medical education continues to evolve, UC San Diego's Mentor Clinician Program stands as a model for how to nurture not just skilled clinicians, but compassionate, reflective and resilient physicians for the future.

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