The intersection of basic science and health policy: a conversation with Victor Velculescu. Interview by Barbara J....

Basic scientists should probably focus their attention on medical innovation, according to Victor Velculescu, who is part of a group at Johns Hopkins that recently discovered 200 new genes related to cancer. Velculescu believes that most research scientists probably do not know enough about health policy to play a major role in its development. However, as he notes in this interview, scientists have an important part to play--indeed, an obligation to explain their work and its relevance to legislators and to the general public--because it is scientists who can best alert policymakers to what is on the health care horizon.