Predicting Engagement of Applicants in the Leadership Through Scholarship Fellowship: A Qualitative Analysis

Background and Objectives: The Society of Teachers of Family Medicine sponsored the Leadership Through Scholarship Fellowship (LTSF) to address the minority tax and help underrepresented in medicine faculty navigate the complex academic environment and succeed and thrive in academic family medicine. This paper aims to answer, “What factors evident in the LTSF application were associated with a high hunger for success in the fellowship?” Methods: LTSF faculty reviewed successful fellow applications in 2021 through 2023 (N = 23), ranking fellows using a rubric to divide them into two groups based on hunger for success in academic medicine. Qualitative researchers analyzed the free-response portions of the fellows’ applications and compared the two groups using constant-comparison analysis. Results: Very hungry fellows had more time in rank (1.5 years vs 1 year) and longer at their institution (3.25 years vs 1 year). Additionally, very hungry fellows identified themes of shared leadership, advocacy, systemic issues, and self-starting. All fellows identified mentorship, scholarship, and lack of supported time. Hungry fellows uniquely identified the theme of support systems. Conclusions: Fellows who were MDs and discussed leadership, advocacy, systemic issues, and self-starting were associated with being very hungry. This study contributes to the literature by being among the first to use application data and faculty rankings to identify themes associated with high engagement.