Electronic letters to:

Research:
Suzanne Laberge, Mathieu Albert, and Brian D. Hodges
Perspectives of clinician and biomedical scientists on interdisciplinary health research
CMAJ 2009; 181: 797-803 [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]
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Electronic letters published:

[Read eLetter] Scarcity of physician scientists
Heikki Savolainen   (24 November 2009)
[Read eLetter] Interdisciplinary health research and translational medicine.
Giuseppe Lippi   (23 November 2009)

Scarcity of physician scientists 24 November 2009
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Heikki Savolainen
Prof., Dept. of Occup. Safety & Hlth., Tampere, Finland

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Re: Scarcity of physician scientists

heikki.savolainen{at}stm.fi Heikki Savolainen

Dear Editor,

Dr. Laberge and her colleagues (1)touch a very important question. One of the roots may be at least in the Nordic countries, Sweden, Finland, a decrease in the number of medically qualified scientists.

The basic sciences have difficulties to attract and recruit young medical students or recent graduates to do research and, therefore, future clinical leaders do not have a hands-on experience on the creation and application of modern biomedical methods and concepts.

Sweden has created special research orientated internships for your physicians with early success while their impact in the long term remains to be seen.

It is felt that future clinicians should have a more active role in the creation of new biomedical primary discoveries so that they could more fully understand and use translational research.

1 Laberge S, Albert M, Hodges BD. Perspectives of clinician and biomedical scientists on interdisciplinary health research. CMAJ 2009; 181: 797-803

Conflict of Interest:

None declared
Interdisciplinary health research and translational medicine. 23 November 2009
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Giuseppe Lippi
U.O. Diagnostica Ematochimica, Azienda Ospedaliera di Parma, Italy

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Re: Interdisciplinary health research and translational medicine.

glippi{at}ao.pr.it Giuseppe Lippi

Giuseppe Lippi, Mario Plebani.

The vast complexity of science, biochemistry, physiology and disease necessitates a huge effort to translate the findings from basic research into valid and effective clinical practice, that is the typical “bench to bedside process”. In some cases, up to two-third, many promising initial results have been found to be unreliable or not reproducible at the level of human randomised trials (1). Whereas finding a reliable explanation on how the large part of basic research that has been lost in translation has engaged for years the mind of scientists, healthcare administrators and even governments, only few solutions have been proposed to fill this gap. Laberge et al. recently reported on this journal that, despite having some positive views about the value of interdisciplinary research, some scientists, especially biomedical scientists, expressed reservations about the growing support of interdisciplinary research (2). This is disappointing, inasmuch as the full range of clinical research, from translation to outcomes analysis, cannot be performed without reorganizing human science in a thoughtful cooperative manner between basic scientists and clinicians. It is undeniable that the largest part of the failure of translational medicine (which is always accompanied by wasted human efforts and lost investments) is attributable to a lack of effective communication between both parties (3). As such, a collaborative rather than competitive relationship between the two groups, predictably within interdisciplinary teams, must be considered a priority for healthcare organizations, funding bodies and, ultimately, science and medicine.

1. Hackam DG. Translating animal research into clinical benefit. BMJ 2007;334:163.

2. Laberge S, Albert M, Hodges BD. Perspectives of clinician and biomedical scientists on interdisciplinary health research. CMAJ 2009;181:797-803.

3. Lippi G, Plebani M, Guidi GC. The paradox in translational medicine. Clin Chem 2007;53:1553.

Conflict of Interest:

None declared