Recruitment and Retention of Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Physicians: A Report from the ASTCT Talent Acquisition Task Force.

BACKGROUND

A shortage of transplant and cellular therapy (TCT) physicians is expected given the expansion of TCT indications and the scope of practice of TCT programs in recent years.

OBJECTIVES

American Society of Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (ASTCT) conducted a survey of early career transplant physicians and trainees to assess the factors that prompted them to pursue to career in TCT.

STUDY DESIGN

This was a cross sectional survey conducted via emails sent to the ASTCT membership.

RESULTS

Fifty-nine respondents completed the survey. The vast majority of respondents decided to pursue a career in TCT during their hematology/oncology fellowship (41%), followed by during residency (25%) or medical school (18%), and a majority of them had some exposure to TCT in their clinical training already. The most common reason for choosing to specialize in TCT was interest in the clinical practice of TCT (81%) closely followed by the scientific allure of the field (75%). Most respondents were extremely committed to remaining in this field of practice. We found that those in the field report high levels of satisfaction despite factors that would otherwise predispose to burnout.

CONCLUSIONS

A systematic and sustained effort to promote trainee engagement that could result in improved recruitment and retention to the field of TCT is needed. Professional societies in partnership with educational institutions could conduct outreach and help attract trainees from diverse backgrounds.

Informations de copyright

Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Conflicts of Interest Statement Akshay Sharma has received consultant fees from Spotlight Therapeutics, Medexus Inc., Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Sangamo Therapeutics, and Editas Medicine. He is a medical monitor for an RCI BMT CSIDE clinical trial for which he receives financial compensation. He has also received research funding from CRISPR Therapeutics and honoraria from Vindico Medical Education. Dr. Sharma is the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital site principal investigator of clinical trials for genome editing of sickle cell disease sponsored by Vertex Pharmaceuticals/CRISPR Therapeutics (NCT03745287), Novartis Pharmaceuticals (NCT04443907), and Beam Therapeutics (NCT05456880). The industry sponsors provide funding for the clinical trial, which includes salary support paid to Dr Sharma's institution. Dr Sharma has no direct financial interest in these therapies. Agnieszka Czechowicz discloses financial interests in the following entities working in the transplant and/or rare genetic disease space: Beam Therapeutics, Decibel Therapeutics, Editas Medicine, Gilead Sciences, GV, Prime Medicines, Spotlight Therapeutics and 48 Bio. Additionally, she been an investigator of clinical trials for patients with Fanconi Anemia utilizing therapies developed by Rocket Pharma and Jasper Therapeutics, and has received institutional research support pertaining to these clinical trials. Miguel Perales reports honoraria from Adicet, Allogene, Allovir, Caribou Biosciences, Celgene, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Equilium, Exevir, ImmPACT Bio, Incyte, Karyopharm, Kite/Gilead, Merck, Miltenyi Biotec, MorphoSys, Nektar Therapeutics, Novartis, Omeros, OrcaBio, Sanofi, Syncopation, VectivBio AG, and Vor Biopharma. He serves on DSMBs for Cidara Therapeutics and Sellas Life Sciences, and the scientific advisory board of NexImmune. He has ownership interests in NexImmune, Omeros and OrcaBio. He has received institutional research support for clinical trials from Allogene, Incyte, Kite/Gilead, Miltenyi Biotec, Nektar Therapeutics, and Novartis. Melody Smith reports honoraria from A28 Theraupeutics and CVS Caremark.