The future of biomedical research and its impact on pathology

Biomedical research is an enterprise that is generally active today. The future of biomedical research will be determined by the directions given it by the individual research investigators, development of new equipment and facilities, availability of money to fund research, societal attitudes about the goals and uses of research, and the character of research investigators' training. The future of biomedical research seems to be substantial because it leads to strategies and techniques for preventing or curing disease, and, thereby, results of research can enable health care to be both improved and made less costly. The condition of research in pathology seems to be less healthy than does that of biomedical research in general. Faculty members of academic pathology departments do not seem to compete well for research support from federal sources, and this lack may signal a further decline in pathology research in the future. The reasons for the perceived erosion of research in pathology are complex, but they must be addressed and reversed. Since the practice of diagnostic pathology is an applied technology that depends on research for new scientific insights and techniques to sustain it, continued erosion of the research base of pathology will adversely affect the future utility and relevance of diagnostic pathology as a clinical medical specialty.