Developing critical mass and growing our own academics.

Academic paediatrics is an exciting and rewarding career path but is not immune to the problems of recruitment and retention currently affecting most branches of medicine. The Modernising Medical Careers initiative, with its explicit academic training path, offers an unparalleled opportunity to develop novel schemes that promote recruitment and retention. Coordinated action is required to define, publicise and support the new academic training programmes and to attract the best trainees into them.