Office of Postdoctoral Services - Resources

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 Compact was drafted by the AAMC Group on Graduate Research, Education, and Training (GREAT) and its Postdoctorate Committee, and it is modeled on the AAMC Compact Between Resident Physicians and Their Teachers.

Among its potential uses, the compact can be used:

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

Establishing good communication between postdocs and mentors is critical for a successful relationship. The Individual Development Plan (IDP) serves as a communication tool between postdoc and mentor, and provides a planning process that identifies both professional development needs and career objectives. The IDP opens communication, identifies expectations, establishes objective criteria for success, recognizes the importance of training and service, and is flexible to allow new opportunities to be pursued when they appear. The IDP should include defined time and resources devoted to research and career development activities independent of the mentor’s research.