Mentorship Programs

ML4H is proud to offer three distinct mentorship programs designed to support individuals at various stages of their careers in machine learning and healthcare.

• Author Mentorship (deadline: August 10th, rolling until September 1st)
• Reviewer Mentorship (deadline: September 14th)
• Career Mentorship (deadline: October 26th)

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Author Mentorship

The Author Mentorship Program pairs less experienced authors with senior researchers to provide feedback on their paper submissions, with the overall goal of improving submission quality and fostering future collaboration. The pairing process will be performed based on common research interests between the mentor and mentees.

Note that the role of the mentor is to provide feedback on an existing project in preparation for ML4H 2026; therefore, mentees who do not already have a paper idea or do not intend to submit a paper to ML4H 2026 should not participate in this program.

We especially encourage less experienced authors and participants from underrepresented groups to sign up as mentees, and senior community members to serve as mentors for these programs. This program involves up to two months of mentorship. Mentees can receive mentorship throughout various stages of their work, with mentors giving feedback/suggestions in areas such as (1) the direction of the overall project, (2) modeling and experimental design, (3) analysis of the results, and (4) presentation/organization of the final paper they plan to submit to ML4H 2026.

Mentees and mentors are encouraged to have one or more one-hour meetings to discuss the paper’s progress. Mentees will send their paper to their mentor in advance of the meeting and are encouraged to share thoughts on what kind of feedback would be most valuable. The mentor will come to the meeting with constructive, actionable thoughts on the paper draft. Mentors are encouraged to tailor to the types of feedback the mentee has identified while also offering perspectives the mentee may not have considered. Signing up to be a mentor does not equate to authorship. Mentees can but are neither required nor expected to list mentors as authors on the paper. We encourage conversations about authorship if applicable, but authorship decisions are beyond the scope of the mentorship program and depend on the level of feedback.

Timeline

• August 10: Deadline to guarantee a match, and details about mentor-mentee pair-ups are sent out on a rolling basis starting July 15th.
• August 10–18: Mentees should reach out to their mentor to arrange an initial meeting.
• August 18–September 10: Mentors and mentees meet to discuss the paper. After each meeting, the mentees are expected to incorporate the mentors’ feedback and send an updated draft of the paper to the mentors.
• September 10: ML4H submission deadline

Apply

Application deadline: August 10, 2026, AoE (rolling)

Detailed Expectations

Mentees

As a mentee, you are expected to:

1. Share the draft of your paper with your mentor when matched, leaving ample time for feedback from your mentor.
2. Schedule a video or phone call with your mentor for feedback on the current state of your paper, including the overall direction, modeling/experimental design, analysis of results, and the presentation of the final paper. You are encouraged to identify areas of high impact feedback to communicate to your mentor in advance.
3. Incorporate feedback from your mentors during revisions of the paper, and discuss revisions throughout the author mentorship timeline.
4. You may opt in to further meetings based on shared availability. Share the current state of your paper with your mentor a few days before each scheduled meeting to allow time for your mentor to review it before discussing.
5. Submit your paper by the ML4H 2026 deadline on September 10th, 2026 AoE.

Mentors

As a mentor, you will be expected to:

1. Thoroughly read the paper shared by your mentee before each scheduled meeting.
2. Provide thoughtful, constructive feedback on any aspect of the paper, including the general direction, modeling/experimental design, analysis of the results, and presentation of the final paper.

Joint Expectations

Both mentors and mentees are required to:

1. Agree on a meeting schedule to discuss the paper prior to submission by September 10th, 2026. One meeting is required. More meetings are encouraged based on availability.
2. Communicate honestly about expectations, availability, and goals, and treat one another with professionalism, respect, and inclusivity.
3. If applicable, discuss potential authorship for the mentor in conjunction with the mentee and mentee’s PI.

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Reviewer Mentorship

The Reviewer Mentorship Program is an ongoing ML4H initiative to train junior reviewers, foster new connections and relationships in the ML4H community, and ultimately improve the quality of the review process. This program revolves around two primary components: mentors providing constructive feedback on review drafts, and mentees refining their reviews based on this feedback.

Peer review is a critical part of science and relies on researchers providing detailed and actionable critiques of submitted papers. Effective review ensures that science not only moves our field forward but is reproducible, robust, and clearly communicated. ML4H fosters this process in the Review Mentorship program. Mentors will have written reviews previously for multiple conferences or journals. Mentees are new to the process and are seeking feedback and a framework for writing constructive, thorough reviews. Mentors have the flexibility to structure the feedback session as they prefer. However, they are expected to read their mentee’s assigned papers and reviews, and formulate their feedback in advance. Rather than acting as additional reviewers, mentors should focus on ensuring that the mentee’s reviews are high-quality, constructive, and fair.

Apply

If you are interested in participating in the reviewer mentorship program as a mentor/mentee, please sign up using the following form:

Application deadline: September 14, 2026 AoE

Detailed Expectations

Mentees

As a mentee, you will be expected to:

1. Share PDFs of your assigned papers with your mentor at the beginning of the review period.
2. Share your review drafts with your mentor at least one week before the end of the review period to allow ample time for discussion-driven revision.
3. Schedule a video or phone call with your mentor to discuss the assigned papers and gather feedback on your reviews.
4. Submit your review to OpenReview by the review deadline.
5. Carefully analyze author responses and other reviewer comments, participate actively in the reviewer discussion period, and make necessary updates to your reviews.
6. Share the final version of your reviews with your mentor before the final submission.

Mentors

As a mentor, you will be expected to:

1. Thoroughly read the papers and reviews shared by your mentee.
2. Provide timely, thorough, and constructive feedback on the reviews. Your feedback should evaluate the scientific validity of the reviews and their adherence to reviewer guidelines and best practices.
3. Consider sharing your own review process, framework, and key focus points when peer reviewing.

Joint Expectations

Both mentors and mentees are required to:

1. Determine a mutually agreed date and time to discuss the reviews before submitting to OpenReview by the review deadline. Meet at least once via video or phone with each mentee to discuss the assigned papers and share feedback on the reviews.
2. Read and discuss author feedback and other reviews prior to participating in the reviewer discussion period and submitting an updated review.
3. Fill out a brief survey by the ML4H organizers about your experience in the program, with suggestions for improving future editions.

Timeline

• September 14: Mentees and mentors are starting to be matched. Once paired, an introductory video or audio call can be scheduled.
• During the review period:
  • Mentee shares assigned papers with a mentor at the beginning of the review period (after September 10th).
  • Mentee shares review drafts with mentor in advance of the deadline by one week or more.
  • Scheduled feedback session takes place prior to the deadline.
  • Mentee incorporates feedback and submits the initial review to the system by the reviewer deadline.
  • The reviewer discussion period runs, during which the mentee reads author responses and discusses them with the mentor and other reviewers. Review scores may be updated if needed.
  • Revised reviews are submitted by the mentee by the deadline.
• Following the review period: Mentees and mentors fill out a survey on the program’s effectiveness and suggestions for improvement.

Resources

• ML4H Reviewing Guidelines
• Writing a good ML4H paper
• How to write a peer review:
  • PLOS
  • ACL
  • Other ML conference reviewer guidelines (for inspiration only; follow the ML4H reviewer guidelines on any specific instructions): NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, AAAI
• Tips for Reviewing Research Papers
• How to write a thorough peer review

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Career Mentorship

The Career Mentorship Program will take place remotely throughout the weeks before the symposium (November 2, 2026 – December 4, 2026), and will focus on pairing mentees with mentors who can provide advice on career-related topics (e.g., developing a long-term research plan, doing healthcare research in industry, work-life balance). The primary expectations of the program are:

1. Attendance of an online one-hour group mentoring workshop in late November (date TBA);
2. Participation in an hour-long 1-1 mentoring session to provide advice on the topics of interest.

We especially encourage less-experienced attendees to sign up as mentees and senior community members to serve as mentors for these programs.

Mentors and mentees will be matched based on time availability and selected topics of expertise/interest for providing and receiving mentorship, respectively. We will aim to match each mentor with up to 3-4 mentees. Topics of discussion are flexible and meant to be chosen by mentees based on their goals, interests, and career stage. Mentors share experiential advice and, if mutually desired, are encouraged to stay in touch with mentees beyond the program.

We aim to gather a diverse pool of mentees and mentors. Please share broadly and do not hesitate to sign up if you are from an underrepresented group in the field!

Timeline

• October 26: Deadline for applying to participate in the ML4H Career Mentorship Program.
• November 2: Mentor-mentee pairings are sent out.
• November 9: Mentees reach out to mentors to schedule a Zoom call for the week before ML4H.
• November 16: Group Mentoring session — mentors and mentees can choose the session to participate in based on their availability and are welcome to join both sessions.
• November 23 – December 4: Mentors and mentees meet for 1-1 discussions.

Pairs are encouraged but not required to also meet in person at ML4H 2026.

Apply

Application deadline: October 26, 2026 AoE

Detailed Expectations

Mentees

As a mentee, you will be expected to:

1. Prepare questions and discussion topics for your mentors.
2. Participate in the ML4H career mentorship program.

Mentors

As a mentor, you will be expected to:

1. Read the resources provided for mentors.
2. Participate in the ML4H career mentorship program.

Resources

• Deep Learning Indaba Mentor Guidelines

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