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.