How Mentorship Can Transform Public Health Education

When the first cohort of students gathered in a small classroom at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in 2019, many had a common story: they loved public health but felt like outsiders in their own program. Some were the first in their families to go to graduate school. Others were navigating the unspoken norms of academia—how to network, seek mentorship, or even ask for help.

What they needed wasn’t another lecture. They needed belonging.

Out of that need, faculty members Stephanie Grilo, Michael Joseph, and Goleen Samari launched the Mentoring of Students and Igniting Community (MOSAIC) program. Five years later, it has grown from 26 participants to more than 450 and is reshaping how public health schools approach student success.

The Problem: Access Without Support

Across the United States, schools of public health have made progress in enrolling more students from historically underrepresented and marginalized (URM) groups, including Black, Indigenous, people of color, first-generation, and international students. But as the Columbia team points out, access alone isn’t equity

URM students often face isolation, limited faculty representation, and a scarcity of mentors who understand their lived experiences. Traditional advising covers courses and logistics, but not the “hidden curriculum” of navigating institutions built for others. The result? Persistent gaps in belonging, confidence, and career advancement.

The MOSAIC Model: Mentorship as Institutional Change

The MOSAIC program didn’t set out just to help students survive—it set out to transform the institution itself.

At its heart is a faculty-to-student group mentorship model grounded in anti-racist and anti-oppressive pedagogy (AOP). That means mentorship that:

• Validates students’ identities and experiences,
• Names and discusses power and privilege openly, and
• Builds community instead of hierarchy.

Each faculty mentor commits to regular participation—monthly office hours, planning meetings, and events—and, importantly, is compensated for their time. This signals that mentorship isn’t volunteer work; it’s part of what makes a public health school thrive.

MOSAIC’s programming combines formal workshops (such as résumé building and writing support) with informal spaces where students and faculty connect as individuals, not just professionals. Students co-design the calendar each semester, ensuring their voices shape what’s offered.

“Transparency and validation are key,” the authors write. Mentors are encouraged to share their own challenges, normalize failure, and open conversations about how race, gender, and identity shape academic life.

What This Means in Practice

For public health schools and programs looking to replicate MOSAIC, the lessons are both practical and profound:

1. Treat Mentorship as Core Infrastructure

• Provide faculty compensation and administrative support.
• Establish clear expectations for mentor time and engagement.
• Integrate mentorship metrics into institutional evaluation systems.

2. Build Community, Not Just Pairings

• Group mentorship offers collective support and shared learning.
• Combine professional skill-building with community and wellness events.
• Encourage informal gatherings that humanize faculty-student relationships.

3. Make It Student-Driven

• Use regular feedback loops and co-planning sessions.
• Let mentees’ needs, not institutional assumptions, guide programming.
• Actively connect students to existing campus resources.

4. Align With Anti-Oppressive Pedagogy

• Train mentors in cultural responsiveness and anti-racist frameworks.
• Normalize dialogue around identity, privilege, and systemic barriers.
• Move beyond diversity statements toward lived equity practices.

5. Secure Sustainable Funding Early

• Institutional buy-in is essential for long-term survival.
• MOSAIC secured ongoing school funding by its second year, including 10% salary coverage for co-directors and 5% for departmental mentors
• Funding reflects values: what schools invest in, they sustain.

Key Insight

MOSAIC isn’t just a mentorship program—it’s a culture-change mechanism. It challenges public health institutions to live up to their own commitments to equity and social justice, not just teach them.

Results: From Pilot to Movement

By 2024, MOSAIC had grown nearly twentyfold. Surveys show that students report higher satisfaction, stronger feelings of belonging, and an improved quality of life. Faculty also benefit—gaining a deeper understanding of how to mentor across differences and support student success more equitably.

The program now partners with campus offices for career services, field practice, and writing support, bridging silos that often fragment student experiences. This cross-department collaboration has turned MOSAIC from an initiative into an integral part of the school’s fabric.

Barriers and Opportunities Ahead

Even successful programs face tension between growth and intimacy. As MOSAIC expanded, sustaining meaningful mentorship required smaller faculty-student clusters and more administrative coordination.

Other schools may encounter similar hurdles—faculty bandwidth, funding uncertainty, or resistance to naming structural inequities. Yet, as the authors argue, these are signs of transformation in motion. True equity work disrupts comfort zones.

What’s Next: Scaling Equity in Mentorship

The Columbia team’s five-year reflection offers a roadmap for replication:

• Start small, document everything. Pilot with one department but build evaluation into the model.
• Recruit faculty champions. Representation matters, but so does allyship from across disciplines.
• Institutionalize early. Move mentorship from the margins of student affairs into the center of school governance.

When mentorship becomes systemic, it does more than help students—it redefines what public health education stands for.

Conversation Starters

• How might your institution build a similar model of community-driven mentorship?
• What hidden curricula still shape who thrives in your programs?
• Could your school fund mentorship as a measurable outcome of equity?