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This field report illustrates the significance of maintaining and forming new mentoring relationships with female researchers during the pandemic. During COVID–19 lockdowns, mentoring transitioned to remote methods. Electronic mentoring or e–mentoring was implemented formally by some universities,8 and informally by independent researchers. In the following section, two mentors share the significance of mentoring and the ways in which they conducted e–mentoring with student researchers. Subsequent sections cover students’ backgrounds and the significance of e–mentoring for them during the pandemic.

Executive SummaryThe COVID-19 pandemic exposes the need for public health preventive medicine (PHPM) physicians in Gaza, Palestine. The lack of public health education in Gaza causes its population, physicians included, to be unaware of the necessity of preventative medicine, especially during this pandemic. We propose that the Palestine Medical Council (the Council) implements the following policy steps: 1. Approve the Gaza Medical Reserve Corps (the Reserves) as creators, trainers, and hosts of Gaza’s PHPM residency program; 2. Certify the PHPM board exams, assist in medical education, and issue the specialty license; and 3. Support the Reserve’s efforts to gain financial sustainability and adhere to health laws and ethics.According to Articles 4 and 5 of the Council’s Objectives and Functions, the Council has the authority to execute these steps. In doing so, PHPM physicians will be able to provide Gazans with primary care and telehealth services currently unavailable and relieve overworked physicians who average 113 daily medical consultations. The Reserves currently serve three of PHPM physicians’ four duties: education and outreach, research and development, and public health policy and advocacy. PHPM physicians will not be able to fulfil its fourth duty of providing health services without the Council’s support. By helping establish the PHPM specialty, the Council will assist in strengthening Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure during this critical time, which will, in turn, aid in the betterment of Gaza's overall health.

Within higher education, underrepresented students continue to face inequalities and discrimination, with unique challenges surfacing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mentoring through formal or informal channels is one way to offer assistance to such students. During COVID-19 lockdowns, as classes and work moved online, mentoring also transitioned online. Electronic mentoring, or e-mentoring, was implemented formally by some universities and informally by independent researchers. This article describes the informal mentoring experiences of the lead author with 8 female student researchers, 6 of whom were mentored online. The students represented different racial and ethnic backgrounds, offering a collection of e-mentoring case studies during the pandemic. These independent field reports should not be assumed to represent any of the students' 6 universities, but they are a sample of what can be achieved by invested e-mentors. By sharing these anecdotal experiences, the authors call on all researchers of underrepresented groups to consider e-mentoring to support underrepresented student researchers and diversify the public health research field.