Basic science and clinical medicine

ABSTRACT

The author discusses the relationship between clinical medicine and basic research, and suggests that an effort should be made to encourage close communication between practitioners in both disciplines. The author’s experience in the Cardiac Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital is discussed as a specific example of a program that has evolved into an amalgam of clinicians and scientists, producing many examples of cross-fertilization between basic research and clinical application. The practice of both disciplines together, and not in separate laboratories or distant departments, stimulates pertinent questions and clinical responses, and minimizes the delay between discovery and application.