UroVersity is a student-led, multilevel mentorship program aiming to enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within the field of urology. This program was designed by Dr Kristian Black, a rising fifth-year urology resident at the University of Michigan, to address the lack of representation and opportunities for underrepresented groups in urology and surgical subspecialties. Each year, we welcome a select group of students from underrepresented ethnic/racial backgrounds, low-income backgrounds, and LGBTQ+ identities to participate in a 4-year longitudinal mentorship program. These students receive guidance from faculty, their assigned resident mentor, and fourth-year medical student mentors from their first year onward at the University of Michigan Medical School.

UroVersity offers a unique structured shadowing model to introduce students to urology clinics and operating rooms before starting clinical rotations. The shadowing model creates an individualized experience tailored to each student’s subspecialty interests with the opportunity to explore the entire breadth of urology. Participants are encouraged to attend most department events, such as grand rounds, visiting professorships, and even the Reed Nesbit Alumni Society annual meeting, to increase their familiarity with and visibility within the department. These structured clinical, research, and continuing medical education opportunities increase students’ exposure to the field and encourage early development of mentorship and sponsorship networks within urology, all while increasing their competitiveness for the Urology Residency Match. Additionally, a skills-based curriculum where first-year students learn how to scrub and proper operating room etiquette is also in place to ensure students excel during their surgical rotations (Figure).

Figure. Students learn how to scrub in, appropriate operating room etiquette, and how to self-glove and gown during their first year of medical school before shadowing in urology operating rooms.

As students progress through the program, developing their interests within a subfield, we intentionally coordinate research experiences aligned with their subspecialty of interest. The program pairs students with a faculty research mentor to initiate research projects with the expectation that students learn the fundamentals of experimental design and execution, manuscript editing, writing, and visual and oral data presentation. Students are encouraged to submit abstracts to regional and national conferences, with support from the department for accepted abstracts. Students achieve a head start in creating a longitudinal subspecialty network or community, which is commonplace within academic urology.

In 2022, UroVersity expanded DEI efforts within the medical education pipeline by partnering with the Black Undergraduate Medical Association. Together, they organized a surgery open house event introducing undergraduate students to surgical subspecialties, including urology, otolaryngology, and orthopedics. This event aimed to dispel misconceptions about pursuing surgical careers and increase interest among Black Undergraduate Medical Association students. This event fostered strong partnerships with pipeline programs in other departments, and the relationships across departments have helped support UroVersity students who ultimately decide not to pursue urology and would like to explore other surgical subspecialties.

Understanding the influence of power differentials in mentee-mentor relationships, in 2023, UroVersity implemented a near-peer mentorship program, pairing third- or fourth-year medical students planning on applying to urology with UroVersity mentees. These mentors provided advice on clinical rotations, board examinations, away rotations, and the Urology Match process to help their mentees position themselves for residency success. National Board of Medical Examiners self-exam vouchers were also dispersed to UroVersity participants this year to ease some of the financial burden associated with medical training.

Looking ahead, UroVersity aspires to broaden its impact by expanding its outreach to a more significant number of diverse students. UroVersity aims to accomplish this by partnering with medical school leadership to increase the breadth of urologic surgery covered during the preclinical renal physiology didactic sequence, formally introducing UroVersity to medical students at the culmination of the block. By enhancing diversity in the field, UroVersity will continue bringing new perspectives, innovative ideas, and practical solutions to the forefront of urology, supporting the elimination of health care disparities, and improving patient care for all.