The importance of the physician-scientist is the focus of a new Perspective piece in the New England Journal of Medicine. Writing that an increasing number of MDs have moved away from the laboratory and into clinical practice, and calling the shortfall of new physician-researchers a "national, if not global, concern," Michael M. Gottesman, MD, outlines how the National Institutes of Health is working to reverse the trend. And he notes that the awarding of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry (which went to Robert Lefkowitz, MD, and Stanford's Brian Kobilka, MD, both trained in cardiology) "should remind us of the critical role that clinician-scientists have played in formulating the seminal concepts that govern modern biomedical science."
Previously: Funding basic science leads to clinical discoveries, eventually, Why basic research is the venture capital of the biomedical world, At press conference, Nobel Laureate Brian Kobilka discusses his research and “irrational optimism” and Stanford’s Brian Kobilka wins 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
