Constructed a longitudinal database to examine how basic science departments have been reorganized at U.S. medical schools. Found that there were fewer basic science departments in the traditional disciplines of anatomy, biochemistry, microbiology, pharmacology, and physiology in 1999 than in 1980. But as biomedical science has developed in an…

Hypermedia technology represents a new and extremely significant paradigm for future computer use--a technology capable of bringing to cognitive tasks powerful new ways for creating and using biomedical information. Hypermedia's potential role in the academic environment is discussed. (Author/MLW)

Medical schools are recognizing that students require explicit discussion and analysis of ethical issues to assure high standards of professional practice. Recognition that the same approach is needed in biomedical research has begun to emerge. (Author/MLW)

The scientific community's expectations for biomedical research exceed funding capacity. Despite national social and economic problems, funding for biomedical research is already high. Additional funds will not solve the problem entirely. The biomedical community must set priorities and allocate money accordingly. New policies for allocating funds…

Summarizes and comments on three presentations relative to the life sciences and medicine given at the October 1995 working symposium of the Project on Conflict of Interest in University-Industry Research Relationships and included in this issue. Discusses the work of medical researcher David Blumenthal, political scientist Mark Frankel, and…

The debate over whether there is an oversupply of doctorates in the biomedical sciences is examined, and a case study of doctoral graduates and postdoctoral fellows at the Tulane University (Louisiana) Medical Center is reported. It is concluded that there is no biomedical doctoral glut and that doctoral program downsizing would have serious…

This bibliography is divided into 2 parts: literatures citations and abstracts/annotations of State Reports. Part I contains 7 sections: General, Foreign Medical Graduates, Biomedical Scientists, Physician Performance, Minorities and Women, Graduate Medical Education, and Other Bibliographies. Part 2 contains 71 reports of surveys of physician…

Responses from faculty from 82 percent of medical schools surveyed indicated agreement between the basic science teachers and clinical teachers on the relative importance of a set of biomedical concepts, and showed relatively minor levels of disagreement on how difficult these concepts are. (Author/MLW)

Clinical trials and access to therapeutic drugs pose dilemmas for researchers, physicians, and AIDS patients. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, recognizing the need for greater access to drugs by a broader spectrum of the infected population, is establishing the Community Programs for Clinical Research on AIDS. (Author/MLW)

This discussion of traditional academic medicine's resistance to changes in practice, technology, and finances looks at three current problems in medical education and two in biomedical research. Solutions are proposed, based on redefinition of the relationship between universities and medical schools and expansion of the conventional narrow focus…

Three principal aspects of capital needs in biomedical research are discussed: the significant and growing need for capital; sources; and the role of federal policy. Important assumptions, questions, and possible future trends are discussed. Consolidated thinking and effort are encouraged. (MSE)

This article examines the debate over reform of doctoral education in biomedicine and concludes that the two solutions most advocated are flawed, and that the broad nonscientific education some would like to see in the graduate curriculum is most appropriate in the undergraduate years. More rigorous graduate education, not job-related training, is…

A survey of 549 biomedical trainees (graduate and postdoctoral students, medical students, residents, fellows) investigated training in research ethics, observation of scientific misconduct, and willingness to select, omit, or fabricate data to win a grant or publish a paper. The efficacy of current ethics instruction is questioned. (Author/MSE)