High-quality academic mentorship is key to the success of students pursuing careers in the health sciences. Mentorship may take on additional importance for sexual and gender minority (SGM) students, who often face stressors related to stigmatized identities. We conducted an anonymous online survey to assess the mentorship experiences of SGM students pursuing careers in the health sciences and to elicit their perspectives on what makes an effective mentor. Students (N = 166) were pursuing a variety of health-related careers, including medicine (12.7%), nursing (7.8%), public health (21.1%), and social work (19.3%). Overall, students rated the quality of their mentorship experiences as (very) good: 83.8% among participants who reported having had an academic mentor that openly identified as SGM and 79.5% among participants who had a non-SGM identified mentor (ns). Participants recommended individual, dyadic and structural level activities that could be undertaken by academic mentors of SGM students to promote the students' academic success and positive career trajectories. Education on SGM issues, direct conversation about experiences of homophobia and transphobia in academic settings, and advocacy for including SGM content in coursework were among the suggestions provided by participants. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

We sought to identify the characteristics of men who have sex with men (MSM) who are opinion leaders on immunization issues and to identify potential opportunities to leverage their influence for vaccine promotion within MSM communities. Using venue-based sampling, we recruited and enrolled MSM living in Los Angeles (N = 520) from December 2016 to February 2017 and evaluated characteristic differences in sociodemographic characteristics, health behaviors, and technology use among those classified as opinion leaders versus those who were not. We also asked respondents about their past receipt of meningococcal serogroups A, C, W, and Y (MenACWY) and meningococcal B (MenB) vaccines, as well as their opinions on the importance of 13 additional vaccines. Multivariable results revealed that non-Hispanic black (aOR = 2.64; 95% CI: 1.17⁻5.95) and other race/ethnicity (aOR = 2.98; 95% CI: 1.41⁻6.29) respondents, as well as those with a history of an STI other than HIV (aOR = 1.95; 95% CI: 1.10⁻3.48), were more likely to be opinion leaders. MenACWY (aOR = 1.92; 95% CI: 1.13⁻3.25) and MenB (aOR = 3.09; 95% CI: 1.77⁻5.41) vaccine uptake, and perceived importance for these and seven additional vaccines, were also associated with being an opinion leader. The results suggest that the co-promotion of vaccination and other health promotion initiatives via opinion leaders could be a useful strategy for increasing vaccination among MSM.