The Neilson Society is named after Eric Neilson, Chair of the DOM from 1997 to 2010, was started by Nancy Brown shortly after she took over as Chair in 2010 to provide department level mentoring support for all the junior faculty on the tenure track in the DOM. The Society coordinates a small group peer mentoring program; a monthly seminar series throughout the year to discuss issues relevant to basic scientist and physician scientist career development; and has a tri-annual lectureship series that is supported by funds from individual Divisions and is part of Medical Grand Rounds. The Vice Chair for Faculty Development also provides individual mentoring and career counseling. Anybody who has been appointed to a tenure track faculty position at Vanderbilt (Assistant or Associate Professor without tenure) is automatically enrolled in the Neilson Society.To give a perspective on numbers, at the last census at the beginning of 2020, there were 76 tenure track faculty in the DOM from 13 divisions, comprising 44 MD, or MD PhDs and 32 PhDs involved in clinical and bench research. We recruit 8-12 new faculty each year, and about the same number are promoted with tenure each year, so there is quite a high turnover and it is often hard in a big department for people keep up with all this new talent!
Activities are complementary to and coordinated with individual Division Directors, and with a variety of VUMC and VU organizations and societies that are involved in junior faculty development activities. This includes the Newman Society, which supports Basic Scientists and Physician Scientist Assistant Professors funded by Career Development Awards.