Stanford Network for Advancement and Promotion: The impact of a community building-focused leadership development program on the success of underrepresented groups in academic medicine.

Background: Leadership can be an isolating experience and leaders from underrepresented groups (URGs) may experience even greater isolation and vulnerability because of lack of representation. Given the collaborative nature of medicine, leadership programs for physicians need to address isolation. Social support is one mechanism to combat this isolation; however, most leadership programs focus exclusively on skills building.

Purpose: The Stanford Network for Advancement and Promotion (SNAP) program was developed to reduce isolation among physician leaders from URGs in academic medicine leadership by building a supportive network of peers.

Methodology/approach: Ten women physicians from diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds were invited to participate in SNAP. Annual surveys were administered to participants to assess the effectiveness of SNAP on decreasing feelings of isolation and increasing professional leadership growth. The authors charted the expansion and adaptation of the program model across gender and in additional settings.

Results: SNAP effectively created a sense of community among the physician leaders. Participants also reported feeling challenged by the program and that they had grown in terms of critical thinking, organizational knowledge, and empowerment as leaders. Participants found community building to be the most valuable program component. Because of this success, the SNAP model has been adapted to create 10 additional cohorts.

Conclusion: Leadership programs like SNAP that focus on reducing isolation are instrumental for retaining and promoting the career advancement of physicians from URGs.

Practice implications: Developing a diverse workforce of academic physicians is essential to providing high-quality and equitable clinical care, research, and medical education.