| Medicine has evolved dramatically over the past century from a healing art in which standards of practice were established on the basis of personal experience, passed on from one practitioner to the next, to a rigorous intellectual discipline steeped in the scientific method. The application of the scientific method has led to major advances in the fields of physiology, microbiology, biochemistry, and pharmacology; these advances served as the basis for the diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to illness in common use by physicians through most of the 20th century. Since the 1980s, the understanding of the molecular basis of genetics has expanded dramatically, and advances in this field have identified new and exciting dimensions for defining the basis of "conventional" genetic diseases (e.g., sickle cell disease) as well as the basis of complex genetic traits (e.g., hypertension). The molecular basis for the interaction between genes and environment has also begun to be defined. Armed with a variety of sensitive and specific molecular techniques, the contemporary physician can now begin not only to understand the molecular underpinning of complex pathobiologic processes but also to identify individuals at risk for common diseases. Understanding modern medicine therefore requires an understanding of molecular genetics and the molecular basis of disease. This introductory chapter offers an overview of this complex and rapidly evolving topic and attempts to summarize principles of molecular medicine that will be highlighted in specific sections throughout the book.
About the Author
Thomas E. Andreoli, MD, MACP, Professor and The Nolan Chair, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Arkansas College of Medicine, Little Rock, AK; Joseph Loscalzo, MD, PhD, Wade, Professor and Chair, Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Physician-in-Chief, Boston Medical Center, Director, Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute, Boston, MA; Charles C. J. Carpenter, MD, MACP, Professor of Medicine, Director, International Health Institute, Brown, University School of Medicine, Providence, RI; and Robert C. Griggs, MD, Chair, Department of Neurology, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY |