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May
2002
From Laboratory
to Living Room
Senator Bill
Frist, the heart transplant surgeon upon whom President Bush relies
for biopolitical advice, recently suggested in the august pages
of the Journal of the American Medical Association that the huge
federal investment in basic research ought to have some measurable
impact on health outcomes. Specifically, he called for an increased
effort to translate the fruits of basic research into applications
useful in the practice of medicine.
Targeting research
funds to the nation's most pressing health problems will not be
popular in the scientific community, but at a time when citizens
are demanding that their government demonstrate the benefit of science
in improved health, this focus is essential.
The work of
converting the nation's investment in health research into healthful
policy and practice will be successful only if it is activated by
a strong mandate and accomplished by federal agencies working in
harmony with consumers, health care professionals and voluntary
health organizations to accomplish a clear agenda.
Although the
senator's article was aimed beyond the physician readership of JAMA
to bench scientists, his prescription is applicable to behavioral
and social science health research, as well, because no agenda for
basic research will ever reach its full potential without simultaneous
investment in applied research across the board. Human behavior
mediates the effective use of every technological advance, yet behavioral
and social sciences often are overlooked on the continuum from laboratory
to living room.
Research by
health psychologists, economists, sociologists and anthropologists
includes such health topics as: adherence to medications and clinical
guidelines, behavioral genetics, risk communication, the health
effects of psychosocial stress, preventive health behavior change
and services for special populations. These disciplines can answer
vital questions about how behavioral and social factors influence
health and how people get the best possible health information and
care they need when and where they need it.
While these
topics are not the stuff of glamorous biomedical research and miraculous
cures, the answers to them are critical to making the best use of
the knowledge gained from the nation's research investment.
In a recent
monologue, Jay Leno referred to new statistics showing, he said
with some likely exaggeration, that 80 percent of Americans are
overweight. Well, if 80 percent are overweight, he asked, then what
exactly is "normal" weight? Perhaps, he suggested, the
way to look at this is that 20 percent of Americans are underweight.
The joke may be on those of us whose warnings about obesity and
other public health issues are communicated in ways that defy common
sense.
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