Training in Clinical Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics

Abstract

An unfortunate academic perspective concerning L therapeutics has been carried over from the past into the present. Many of our outstanding medical schools maintain the attitude that pathophysiology of medical diseases and the art and science of diagnosis are all-important in medical education, and that "any fool can treat." This may have been appropriate 40 years ago, when effective therapeutic agents were indeed few in number, but the concept is hardly applicable today. With the development of new and potent agents, the administration of these agents must become as specific and precise as the surgeon's knife, if maximum therapeutic benefit is to be obtained. An even more unfortunate corollary is the attitude of some who take great pride in considering themselves "therapeutic nihilists." Among these are a number of academicians who, by virtue of their position, have great influence on their students. As a result, many of our newly graduated