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The United States will face a shortage of nephrologists during the next decade. This shortfall will occur despite the fact that the number of nephrology fellows nearly doubled during the past 20 years, from 460 in 1987 to 863 in 2008 (
At least three simultaneous trends are conspiring to fuel this crisis: Nephrology is not an appealing career option for the majority of U.S. medical school graduates (USMGs), the graduates of international medical schools