Medical research is at a crossroads.
The major killer diseases are not solved by old experimental techniques. In order to win against the major diseases, researchers are looking to new technologies, and doctors are forced to learn new approaches. This extraordinary advance came from sophisticated studies of human patients. Over the past four decades, in Framingham, Massachusetts, thousands of individuals in two generations have been carefully studied to see which factors are responsible for heart disease. The Framingham Heart Study showed that if one's cholesterol level stays below 150, a heart attack is extremely unlikely.