Hematology Career Planner
Every hematology trainee, whether an MD/DO or PhD, should have a plan for career success. To help you start planning for a successful career in hematology, the ASH Trainee Council has created this career-development tool.
MD/DO
- Meet with local hematologists to learn about their careers and lifestyle.
- Decide if hematology is your calling by the end of your first year.
- Develop a vision and map out your future.
- Continuously revise a plan for your clinical and scholarly life.
- Set short- and long-term goals; revise and reevaluate these regularly.
- Identify a mentor and project by the beginning of your second year.
- Select a mentor(s) whose focus is on either classical or malignant hematology.
- Identify faculty early in your residency for letters of recommendation, including:
- a hematology faculty member,
- someone able to write a personal letter, and
- someone who is relatively well known.
- Work on a hematology-related project.
- Work on short-term, achievable projects (e.g., retrospective studies, case series, and learning how to complete an IRB).
- Have your own project (first author, preferably).
- Apply for the ASH HONORS Award.
- Apply for the ASH Minority Resident Hematology Award Program.
- Apply for institutional grants for residents.
- Apply for one of the ASH Abstract Achievement Awards and earn the opportunity to present your work at the ASH annual meeting.
- Join ASH as a Resident member. Membership is free, and applications are considered on a rolling basis.
- Attend the ASH annual meeting throughout residency.
- Submit abstracts, if possible.
- Attend special trainee events to make the most your ASH annual meeting experience.
- Learn the fundamentals of internal medicine and/or pediatrics.
- Rotate in hematology clinics and consult electives.
- Read TraineE-News and publications.
- Apply for fellowship at the beginning of your third year, keeping in mind your personal and career goals. Consider the following:
- For internal medicine, single boarding versus double boarding
- Classical versus malignant hematology (it is okay if you have not decided on one)
- Basic science/translational versus clinical/outcomes research
- Complete institutional CITI GCP, HIPAA compliance, and ethical conduct of research.
- Search for and identify mentors, recognizing that there are different types of mentors (research, career, coach).
- Interview senior faculty who have achieved your professional or personal goals.
- Establish expectations by discussing career direction (interest in similar projects), support (money, space, ancillary staff), and availability (frequency of meeting, revision of grant proposals and manuscripts).
- Learn the “invisible ladders” in academic medicine: salary, compensation, promotion, publication, and grant.
- Decide on academic career “tracks” early on. Some options to consider include:
- Clinical investigator and trialist
- Outcomes and epidemiologic researcher
- Physician scientist with a laboratory
- Master clinician and physician educator
- Pave the road towards a successful research team.
- Work on short-term, achievable projects that may lead to publications (e.g., retrospective studies, case series, review articles, and meta-analyses).
- Plan on long-term projects that can be completed during research time.
- Prepare in advance to apply for intensive, year-long career-development workshops and training opportunities, including ASH’s Clinical Research Training Institute, Translational Research Training in Hematology, and Medical Educators Institute.
- Apply for shorter career workshops. Use ASH’s Grants Clearinghouse to find hematology grant opportunities.
- Join ASH as an Associate member. Be sure to ask your training program about enrolling through the ASH Fundamentals for Hematology Fellows (FHF) program
- As an ASH member, you will get access to the ASH Self-Assessment Program, Blood, and other ASH publications. If enrolled through FHF, you will also receive one complimentary ASH meeting registration.
- Join the ASH Trainee Council to meet other fellows and senior ASH members. Applications are due in early-April.
- Attend the ASH annual meeting.
- Submit an abstract by the deadline in early-August.
- Attend special trainee events to make the most of your annual meeting experience.
- Identify collaborators, such as co-fellows, lab researchers, data analysts, and statisticians.
- Learn the fundamentals of malignant and classical hematology.
- Consider a rotation in transfusion medicine/blood banking and/or transplant
- Become a local expert in one disease or field.
- Deliver presentations locally in medical schools and grand rounds.
- Update your CV on a regular basis, adding any major presentations.
- Complete institutional CITI GCP, HIPAA compliance, and ethical conduct of research.
- Prepare in advance to apply to an MPN or MS graduate program, if appropriate for your career path. Applications will be due in December of your second year.
- Decide on a career pathway goal early on.
- Discuss directions and goals with your research mentor and department chair.
- Clearly define primary and secondary projects.
- Allocate time to each of the following: projects, grants, networking, and education.
- Continue to develop your mentor relationships.
- Meet with your primary mentor(s) on a weekly basis.
- Discuss expectations for funding and start thinking about grants.
- Be a good mentee by setting concrete goals, being timely and prepared for meetings, and being willing to accept and act on advice or criticism.
- Work on your primary project whenever possible.
- Continue to build your research team.
- Turn early results into abstracts.
- Turn abstracts into small manuscripts.
- Turn manuscripts into grant proposals.
- Work on smaller secondary projects that have a high likelihood of publication.
- Consider reviews, meta-analysis, and feasibility projects.
- Turn each project into a manuscript before starting a new project.
- Avoid having too many secondary projects, which can become distractions.
- Apply for intensive, year-long career-development workshops and training opportunities, including ASH’s Clinical Research Training Institute, Translational Research Training in Hematology, and Medical Educators Institute.
- Apply for career-development grants before the spring of your third year for future salary support.
- Institutional: K12, NIH, K08, K23
- AHRQ: K08 (for health services research)
- PCORI: comparative effectiveness research with patient engagement
- ASH: Research Training Award for Fellows, Scholar Award
- Use ASH’s Grants Clearinghouse to find other hematology grant opportunities.
- Attend the ASH annual meeting.
- Submit an abstract by the deadline in early-August.
- Attend special trainee events to make the most of your annual meeting experience.
- Continue to deliver presentations locally and nationally and keep a “teaching dossier.”
- Become a local expert in hematology through patient care and experience.
- Take courses and obtain certificates that complement your research direction.
- Consider getting an MS or MPH, if appropriate for your career path.
- Consider training in a special coagulation lab or hemophilia center.
- Consider applying for a subspecialty fellowship training program, if appropriate (e.g., BMT, thrombosis, vascular medicine, or transfusion medicine).
- Understand expectations that determine success for junior faculty.
- If you are a clinical investigator, try to gain national prominence in a thematic area relevant to your department’s mission, design/run clinical trials, and publish reviews/studies.
- If you are a physician scientist, try to gain national prominence in a thematic area relevant to your department’s mission and work towards getting an R01.
- If you are a physician educator, try to provide a record of contribution or record of publication (you will most likely have less protected research time).
- Begin the job application process in September/October for a July start date.
- Academic institutions may hire a “good addition” before formal job posting.
- Meet with your primary mentor and fellowship program director to discuss cover letter writing and obtain appropriate contact emails.
- Search for positions nationally and/or regionally (consider applying to all programs if geographically restricted).
- Check ASH and other professional society websites for existing job postings.
- Try to determine strengths/needs at each institution/clinic.
- Can you find a niche to complement what is already present?
- Email your CV and cover letter to the recommended contact person or division head. Follow instructions if replying to formal job posting.
- Most programs reply in two to four weeks to express interest or say they are not hiring. If more time has passed without a reply, consider sending another email or see if your mentor/other faculty can reach out to a colleague where you applied.
- Interviews for a July start date generally occur between November and February.
- Keep in mind that the interview structure may differ from one institution to another (e.g. two-interview process, coupled with presentation at grand round, versus single comprehensive interview). Make sure you are prepared for the interview day structure.
- Review all offers with your mentor and senior faculty at your home institution to help with the decision.
PhD
- Choose a dissertation mentor and a laboratory.
- Select lab rotations to evaluate if the mentor can develop your research interest.
- Critically evaluate your criteria and preferences for mentor selection.
- Meet and talk to lab members and gather information on graduation timeline, funding sources, publication records, and life after graduation.
- Choose a lab where you will be satisfied spending the next four to five years.
- Identify a research project.
- Figure out potential projects during lab rotations.
- Outline a thesis project by the middle to end of your second year, and evaluate if research goals are realistically achievable within the PhD timeline.
- Determine your interest among basic, translational, and clinical projects.
- Apply for NIH predoctoral fellowship (NRSA-F31) or similar opportunities in your second year.
- Apply for institutional training grants and mentoring fellowships for doctoral students.
- Use ASH’s Grants Clearinghouse to find relevant grant opportunities.
- Join ASH as a graduate student member.
- Attend the ASH annual meeting.
- Submit an abstract by the deadline in early-August.
- Attend special trainee events to make the most of your annual meeting experience.
- Prepare for qualifying exams and thesis proposal.
- Take scientific writing courses and attend grant writing workshops.
- Attend institutional/departmental seminars and journal clubs.
- Decide on academic versus non-academic career paths early.
- Academic route: Look for postdoc positions outside your institution, and continue to build connections.
- Non-academic route: Identify postdocs or positions in industry, scientific writing, editing, consulting, patent law, etc.
- Alternative career paths: Meet and talk to people outside academia who have achieved similar professional or personal goals.
- Publish in a peer-reviewed journal.
- Plan on submitting at least one high-impact primary author publication and one small publication by your fourth year.
- Start early by organizing the figures and result section, fill in required gaps by continuing experiments, and then finish the introduction and discussion.
- Work on short-term achievable projects that can lead to likely publications, even if they are smaller.
- Consider writing one or two review articles or commentary on your research related topic with a research advisor or a collaborator.
- Continue to apply for predoctoral fellowships available from federal or non-federal organizations.
- Consider applying for smaller grants, institutional awards, or joint grants with collaborators.
- Use ASH’s Grants Clearinghouse to find hematology-related grant opportunities.
- Every application, even if it does not get funded, is a chance to learn how to turn results into grant proposals by developing a clear research plan.
- Develop a collaborative network.
- Identify collaborators, including co-trainees, post-docs, bioinformaticians, and statisticians.
- Establish expectations and clarify authorship order if a collaborative project matures to the publication level.
- Be cautious about getting involved in too many collaborative projects, and always prioritize your own thesis project.
- Attend the ASH annual meeting.
- Submit an abstract by the deadline in early-August.
- Attend special trainee events, including the ASH Trainee Council reception, to meet co-fellows and senior ASH members.
- Prioritize and make progress on your thesis project.
- Clearly outline a project proposal and plan timeline for achievement of each aim.
- Continue to build data and design experiments to ask hypothesis-driven questions.
- Aim to turn each project into a manuscript.
- Avoid having too many secondary projects that can become distractions.
- Consider summarizing results regularly to visualize a bigger picture by regularly presenting at lab meetings or departmental seminars.
- Take courses on statistics, large data analysis platforms, or learn programming language if it is applicable to the research project.
- Update your CV constantly to maintain track of talks, posters, publications, and grants.
- Prepare your for postdoctoral position application.
- Attend career-development workshops and talks at your local institution and at conferences.
- Identify a research area and mentor.
- Identify a research area you would like to pursue as a long-term career after transitioning to independence (consider translational research).
- Choose a mentor with a good track-record of supporting postdoctoral trainees.
- Evaluate the lab environment, scientific productivity, publication record, and funding sources during your lab visit.
- Evaluate institutional environment and resources critical for future grant applications.
- Contact previous trainees who recently graduated from the same lab.
- Continue to develop mentor relationships.
- Meet with your advisor on a weekly basis.
- Discuss expectations for funding and think about grants early.
- Set a clear timeline for postdoc training (not more than 5 years).
- Be a proactive mentee: set concrete goals, be timely and prepared at meetings, be willing to accept and act on advice or criticism, and be trustworthy.
- Understand expectations that determine transition to an independent position.
- Academic tenured track: Gain national prominence in a thematic area relevant to postdoc research, and demonstrate independence at the postdoc level by publishing in a high-profile journal and receiving funding.
- Independent group leader in industry: Gain national prominence in an area relevant to your field of interest by publishing, applying for patents, designing therapeutic compounds, and developing your expertise.
- Non-tenured track/teaching: Gain teaching experience to transition to an instructor position.
- Start looking for alternative career paths early if academia does not interest you.
- Focus on your primary research project.
- Continue to build the research team.
- Turn early results into abstracts.
- Turn abstracts into small manuscripts.
- Turn manuscripts into grant proposals.
- Work on smaller secondary projects that have high likelihood of publication.
- Consider reviews, meta-analysis, and feasibility projects.
- Turn each project into a manuscript before starting a new one.
- Avoid having too many secondary projects that can become distractions.
- Apply for postdoctoral fellowships in your first year, including NIH F32, ACS Postdoctoral Fellowship, or NCS.
- Apply for career-development awards, such as the ASH Scholar Award and Translational Research Training in Hematology in your second or third year.
- Apply for one of the ASH Abstract Achievement Awards as a postdoctoral fellow and earn the opportunity to present your work at the ASH annual meeting.
- Use ASH’s Grants Clearinghouse to find hematology-related grant opportunities.
- Apply for institutional grant support even if it is a small amount of funding.
- Apply for NIH K99/R00 (pathway to independence) in your fourth year.
- Apply for NIH K22 or similar career transition grants if unsuccessful with K99, and eventually turn it into an R01.
- Showcase your research by doing departmental, national, and international presentations as talks or posters.
- Go to small meetings to develop your network and to get to know the leaders in your field.
- Attend the ASH annual meeting.
- Submit an abstract by the deadline in early-August.
- Attend special trainee events to make the most of your annual meeting experience.
- Continue to deliver presentations locally and nationally and keep a teaching dossier.
- Attend grant writing workshops and career-related talks about how to succeed in academia or industry.
- Take courses and obtain certificates that can complement your research direction.
- Consider doing two short postdocs instead of one if your first postdoctoral experience doesn’t fit your needs.