taken without such leadership. The search for hctter anti-malarials, which 

 proceeded at a moderate temjx) for many years, has been accelerated enor- 

 mously by Government support during the war. Other examples can be cited 

 in which medical progress has been similarly advanced. In achieving these 

 results, the Government has provided over-all coordination and support; it 

 has not dictated how the work should be done within any cooperating 

 institution. 



Discovery of new therapeutic agents and methods usually results from basic 

 studies in medicine and the underlying sciences. The development of such 

 materials and methods to the point at which they become available- to medical 

 practitioners requires teamwork involving the medical schools, the science 

 departments of universities. Government and the pharmaceutical industry. 

 Government initiative, support, and coordination can be very efifective in this 

 development phase. 



Governvient initiative and swpfort for the develofment of newly discov- 

 ered therapeutic materials and methods can reduce the time required to bring 

 the benefits to the fublic. 



Action is Necessary 



The primary place for medical research is in the medical schools and uni- 

 versities. In some cases coordinated direct attack on special problems may be 

 made by teams of investigators, supplementing similar attacks carried on by 

 the Army, Navy, Public Health Service, and other organizations. Apart from 

 teaching, however, the primarv obligation of the medical schools and univer- 

 sities is to continue the traditional function of such institutions, namely, to 

 provide the individual worker with an opportunitv for free, untrammeled 

 study of nature, in the directions and bv the methods suggested by his inter- 

 ests, curiosity, and imagination. The history of medical science teaches clearly 

 the supreme importance of affording the prepared mind complete freedom 

 for the exercise of initiative. It is the special province of the medical schools 

 and universities to foster medical research in this way — a duty which cannot 

 be shifted to Government agencies, industrial organizations, or to any other 

 institutions. 



Where clinical investigations of the human body are required, the medical 

 schools are in a unique position, because of their close relationship to teaching 

 hospitals, to integrate such investigations with the work of the departments of 

 preclinical science, and to impart new knowledge to physicians in training. 

 At the same time, the teaching hospitals are especially well qualified to carry 

 on medical research because of their close connection with the medical schools, 

 on which they depend for staff and supervision. 



Between World War I and World War II the United States overtook all 

 other nations in medical research and assumed a position of world leadership. 

 To a considerable extent this progress reflected the liberal financial support 

 from universitv endowment income, gifts from individuals, and foundation 

 grants in the 20's. The growth of research departments in medical schools 

 has been verv uneven, however, and in consequence most of the important 

 work has been done in a few large schools. This should be corrected by build- 



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