Physician scientists earn both MD and PhD degrees.
One possible cure that has been largely overlooked, he said, is the role of information technology in revolutionizing biological sciences, delivering patient care, and teaching students. As a result, we are currently at serious risk for hindering future progress in genetic medicine and biology. We are providing sub-optimal and economically inefficient care for many of our patients, and we have failed to evolve innovative teaching tools for our students. As part of the embrace of information technology, Leiden envisions a national system of medical record keeping in which researchers, physicians, and patients can access centralized files to save time, money, and possibly lives. The system would help cut down on medical errors, he said, because physicians could peruse medical histories easily without wasting precious time tracking down records from other institutions.