The hematology workforce in the United States: past, present, and strategies for the future
From 2017-2021, the American Society of Hematology (ASH) completed the largest study ever conducted of the hematology workforce in the United States (US). The study highlighted a deficit in the classical hematology (CH) workforce: despite very high CH clinical volumes encountered by practicing hematologists and medical oncologists, less than 5% of all hematology and medical oncology fellows reported having a career focus in CH. Underlying this was a lack of mentorship in CH compared to malignant hematology and solid tumor oncology. In this Viewpoint article, we discuss factors shaping the US hematology workforce and how decades of inadequate investment in mentorship, research, and subspecialty training contributed to low interest in CH among trainees. We present an overview of ASH's many initiatives to grow the hematology clinical and research workforce in the US and globally, for the future of the field.
Authors
- Ted Wun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6383-7172)
- Josel Fritz
- Soo Jung Park (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2963-1394)
- Leslie R. Ellis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0459-7951)
- Hetty E. Carraway (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5241-3614)
- Clese Erikson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1531-9535)
- Melody Smith (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2702-0381)
- Donna DiMichele (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6208-4682)
- Anita Rajasekhar
- Andrés Gómez‐De León (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6904-9345)
- Tiffany L Lucas
- Laura DeCastro
- Alfred Ian Lee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5968-3948)
- Georgette A. Dent
- Leah E. Masselink (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5276-1037)
- Lachelle D. Weeks (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8726-6212)
- Nathalie van Havre
- Deva Sharma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6437-5296)
- Nathan T. Connell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4100-7826)
- Marquita Nelson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-3969-2293)
- Srikanth Nagalla
- Martha Pritchett Mims
- Casey L. O’Connell
- Ariela L. Marshall
- Rakhi P. Naik
- Robby James Reynolds
- Alison W. Loren
Institutions
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- University of Southern California (US)
- Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist (US)
- Brigham and Women's Hospital (US)
- Cleveland Clinic (US)
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- University of Tennessee Health Science Center (US)
- Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (MX)
- Baylor College of Medicine (US)
- George Washington University (US)
- American Society of Hematology (US)
- University of Minnesota System (US)
- UC San Diego Health System (US)
- Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center (US)
- Yale University (US)
- University of Florida (US)
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (US)
- Dr. Herbert & Nicole Wertheim Family Foundation (US)
- University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (US)
- Moores Cancer Center
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- University of California, Davis (US)
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center (US)
- Stanford University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Blood Advances
- Published
- 2026-08-14
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1182/bloodadvances.2025019451
- Primary Topic
- Advances in Oncology and Radiotherapy
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00