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Interest in academic career waning among hem/onc fellows
Horn L. J Clin Oncol. 2011;doi:10.1200/JCO.2011.35.8663.
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Data from a recent survey indicated that fewer than half of hematology and oncology fellows training at academic centers said they believe that continuing their career in academic medicine is a high priority. In fact, 30% of respondents ranked pursuing an academic career as unimportant or extremely unimportant.
These findings are from a survey of hematology/oncology fellows training at NCI and National Comprehensive Cancer Network centers. Twenty-eight cancer centers with 56 eligible fellowship programs participated; 236 fellows responded. Among other things, the survey questioned fellows about how they would rank the importance of a future academic career.
Results indicated that 51% did not rank an academic career as being very or extremely important. Compared with those who did not rank academic careers highly, those fellows who did were more likely to be women (69% vs. 56%; P=.095), have participated in basic research (23% vs. 11%; P=.051) or to have an additional graduate degree (84% vs. 64%; P=.015).
Prior participation in scientific research also seemed to have an effect on opinion, with those fellows who had presented research at a scientific meeting and those who had published research also more interested in pursuing an academic career.
After adjusting for multiple factors, survey results indicated that the "influence of a mentor in the same field" was still significantly associated with fellows' interest in an academic career. Regardless of career choice, fellows ranked job satisfaction and consistency with personality as highly important factors associated with career choice.
"Our data indicate a general decline in the number of hematology/oncology trainees who intend to pursue an academic career over the next few years," the researchers wrote. "Given the anticipated work force shortage, a decline in the number of trainees entering academic positions could further exacerbate this problem because there would be fewer individuals training future hematologists and oncologists."
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