Culver K W
Oncor Pharm, Inc., Gaithersburg, MD 20877, USA.
Mol Med Today. 1996 Jun;2(6):234-6. doi: 10.1016/1357-4310(96)88803-4.
Medical science is a compelling career choice, filled with the thrill of discovery, joy of learning and a meaningful purpose to lessen human suffering. These benefits and rewards of laboratory and clinical research accumulate in an asynchronous, irregular, and incremental mechanism, euphemistically known as the scientific method. Ultimate success in clinical research is the elusive 'cure'. But in progress towards that goal, success is also measured first as the 'absence of doing harm', and then by various stages of efficacy. Perhaps only in the case of smallpox has medicine achieved total 'victory'; it is now exactly 200 years since Jenner's first clinical trial.
医学是一个极具吸引力的职业选择，充满了发现的兴奋、学习的喜悦以及减轻人类痛苦的崇高目标。实验室研究和临床研究的这些益处和回报，是以一种异步、不规则且渐进的机制积累起来的，这种机制被委婉地称为科学方法。临床研究的最终成功是难以捉摸的“治愈”。但在朝着这个目标前进的过程中，成功首先是以“不造成伤害”来衡量的，然后是通过疗效的各个阶段来衡量。也许只有天花这种疾病，医学才取得了彻底的“胜利”；自詹纳首次进行临床试验至今，已经整整200年了。
