Although 83% of US oncologists report career satisfaction, about 45% experience emotional exhaustion or other symptoms of burnout, says a study presented on 2 June at the meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago, Illinois. The 2012–13 survey of about 1,500 oncologists found a link between burnout and high patient volume. Academic oncologists spend more time with patients and less on research than in the past, says lead author Tait Shanafelt, a haematologist and oncologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He suggests that early-career academic oncologists need to preserve their research time.