Abstract

As the adult hematology and oncology fellowship training pathways have merged in the United States and concerns have arisen about the aging of practicing hematologists, the American Society of Hematology and hematology education leaders are looking to improve their understanding of the factors that contribute to fellows' plans to enter hematology-only careers. With the support of the American Society of Hematology, we collected and analyzed data from a survey of hematology/oncology fellows (n = 626) to examine the relationship between training and mentorship experiences and fellows' plans to enter hematology-only careers. Fellows who planned to enter hematology-only careers were significantly more likely to report having clinical training and mentorship experiences in hematology throughout their training relative to fellows with oncology-only or combined hematology/oncology career plans. After controlling for prior interest in hematology and demographic characteristics, exposure to hematology patients in medical school and fellowship, hematology research experiences, and hematology mentorship (research collaboration and career coaching) were positively and significantly associated with hematology-only career plans. These findings suggest that increasing opportunities for exposure to hematology patients, research opportunities and mentors throughout training could be helpful in building a strong pipeline of potential hematologists.

View details for DOI 10.1182/bloodadvances.2019000569

View details for Web of Science ID 000496921800011

View details for PubMedID 31698456

View details for PubMedCentralID PMC6855099