The very origin of biomedical science owes much to the contributions of physicians. Challenged by disease, physician-scientists such as Schwann, Golgi, Ludwig, Cohnheim, Bernard, Koch and Erlich developed the basic technology for the staining of diseased and normal tissues, the measurement of physiologic processes and the cultivation of bacteria. In so doing they opened the door not only to the scientific study of disease but also to the understanding of normal cell structure and function. The continuing potential of the physician for making fundamental contributions to science is evidenced by the Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine, more than half of which have gone to physicians since 1970.
But the M.D. degree does not a scientist make. Indeed, some might say that the designation "physician-scientist," like "military intelligence," is a contradiction in terms. Physicians acquire a large number of scientific facts in the course of a medical education, and they ...
