Engage in Mentoring

Welcome! Our ISBER Mentor Match program reflects our commitment to you and your professional development. This unique online networking and career development tool, helps you find, connect, and share experiences with others. Your mentor or mentee can be in the same city or on the other side of the world.

The ISBER Mentoring Program is designed to connect member biobankers seeking guidance on questions (Mentees) with experienced volunteers from the ISBER community (Mentors) who can share their firsthand biobanking knowledge/expertise.

The Mentoring Program provides FREE short-term opportunities (~1-2 months) for mentors to: 
•    answer specific questions from mentees and share their experience in a variety of biobanking-related topics and with different types of biobanks
•    help familiarize mentees with biobanking resources from ISBER and other sources 
You can apply to our ISBER Mentor Match program in four simple steps: 

START

Ensure your participation emails notifications are turned to yes at https://forum.isber.org/profile/myaccount/my-settings?section=email so you receive notifications.

ENROLL

Are you looking to be a mentor or mentee? Perhaps both? Sign up: 

  •   Enroll as a Mentor
  •   Enroll as a Mentee

Make selections for each of the program demographics to set your preferences. Demographics include: topics, venue, specialties, career stage and start/end date. Please note that some fields are required for enrollment. The more information you provide, the easier it will be to make the best match. Keep in mind in order to request a mentor or mentee, you must be enrolled in the program. 

SEARCH

Use the Mentor Program Directory to input your search criteria. Start by selecting the topic(s) of interest which include: 

  •   Biobanking Sector
  •   Preferred Language
  •   Type of Institution
  •   Primary area of biobanking expertise

You can also take advantage of features to help you find and recruit matches: 

  •   Track your mentoring relationships
  •  
Participate in discussion forums on mentoring topics
  •  
Search for helpful mentoring resources 

CONNECT

Congratulations! You're all set. You completed steps 1-3 and are now ready for the fun stuff. Let the mentoring begin. Do one search or multiple searches. If you're unsure of the search criteria, select "Search for ALL of the selected values." The Mentor Program Directory will do the work for you and populate the results. 

Next click on the member's name that you're interested in establishing a mentor/mentee connection with. The link will bring you to their profile page. Look around. If you think it's a desired match, look under their profile image for the "Mentor Request" which, when clicked, will allow you to request a connection! If it's not a desired match, you can simply select the back button to return to your previous search results. 

Also, don't forget to view our Mentor Match FAQs!