Position paper on current status and future needs of pediatric nephrology in the United States: Training and research

This position paper recognizes the rather tenuous state of the discipline of pediatric nephrology and the currently limited entry of trainees into the discipline. At least three major recommendations are made to insure its future. First, a flexible system of providing training opportunities for postdoctoral fellows and mid-career academicians is recommended. Second, emphasis should be placed on four areas of research which are of clinical and scientific relevance to pediatric nephrology. Third, the expanded use of multicenter study groups will form a more effective means of answering important clinical questions. This prescription will expand the data base in the discipline, more completely develop our understanding of the biology of the maturing kidney, and potentially lead to more useful therapeutic approaches while assuring a pool of capably trained academicians who can better function within the mission of an academic medical center and who will have the expertise to conduct independent research.