Despite medical school admissions increasing, the numbers of prospective doctors are not enough to address the physician shortage, especially in rural areas. Many of these rural areas, such as California’s San Joaquin Valley (SJV), are impacted by the lack of interest in primary care, aging practitioners, and various other factors; leading to higher rates of death, disability, and chronic disease when compared to urban populations. An important aspect of increasing medical students and physician training from rural areas is utilizing mentorship to foster a continuous supply of rural medical students who plan to serve their communities and residents who decide to remain in rural areas after training. Mentorship in medicine is not a new concept ,with many studies showing that mentorship results in benefits for both the mentee and the mentor. Junior physicians who received mentorship were found to have increased skill development, job satisfaction, and career development while mentors who partook in mentorship programs also reported higher job satisfaction and increase in retention at their current institutions. Of all the obstacles that physicians experienced in their pursuit of receiving mentorship, access to health professionals who could serve as potential mentors, was listed as the most common and difficult barrier to overcome; with factors such as race and gender not significantly affecting the level of satisfaction of those who received mentorship. Although there are previous studies on the impact of mentorship including: 1) retention/supplementation of rural physicians and 2) the importance of mentorship for residents and practicing physicians, studies on high value mentorship for premedical students are lacking. Furthermore, the literature fails to describe best practices on developing and sustaining mentoring relationships. Previously, scholars in the field have described the skills and characteristics of effective mentors. Nonetheless, the topic of mentorship in medicine still remains a contested topic as to the critical time periods for mentorship.