The future of pediatric pulmonology: A survey of division directors, assessment of current research funding, and discussion of workforce trends

In 2018-2020, The American Thoracic Society's Pediatric Pulmonology Division Directors Association (PPDDA) and Pediatric Pulmonology Training Directors Association (PEPTDA) convened a series of workshops to analyze workforce issues from the perspectives of current leaders within the discipline. In this, the report from the 3rd workgroup, we examine future workforce issues from several perspectives. We describe a PPDDA survey regarding current state and future needs of the discipline; an assessment of the current NIH research funding portfolio for major children's respiratory disorders; and an estimate of workforce trends in training, based mainly on ABP data. We conclude that current fellowship graduation rates appear to be sufficient to maintain and even grow the total number of pulmonologists, but demand for pediatric pulmonologists may still be greater than supply, and there are geographical disparities in access to care. New treatments for CF, growth of hospitalist services, care of technology dependent children, and multidisciplinary care for complex chronic disease, will likely change our practice over the next 10 years. Research funding appears to be robust for asthma, CF, BPD, microbiome, and pulmonary hypertension, compared to other chronic respiratory disorders. Few of these grants are led by pediatric pulmonologists. Thus, our discipline needs to adjust our training of fellows and junior faculty to take advantage of existing funding opportunities as well as advocate for greater funding for the other disorders we manage. Finally, we highlight opportunities for the discipline to enhance its roles in addressing emerging respiratory pathogens and expanding the diversity of its workforce. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.