Summary
Objective:
To introduce the paper by Kuhn et al. “Informatics and Medicine: From Molecules to
Populations” and the papers that follow on this special topic in this issue of Methods of Information in Medicine, which opens a debate on the Kuhn et al. paper’s assertions by an international panel
of invited researchers in biomedical informatics.
Method:
An introductory summary and comparative review of the Kuhn et al. paper and the debate
papers, with some personal observations.
Results:
The Kuhn et al. paper makes a strong case for interdisciplinary education in biomedical
informatics across institutions at the graduate level, which could be strengthened
by analysis of previous relevant interdisciplinary experiences elsewhere, and the
challenges they have faced, which point to more pervasive and earlier-stage needs
for both education and practice bridging the research and healthcare communities.
Conclusions:
The experts debating the Kuhn et al. paper strongly and broadly support the key recommendation
of developing graduate education in biomedical informatics in a more comprehensive
way, yet at the same time make some incisive comments about the limitations of the
“positivistic” and excessively technological orientation of the paper, which could
benefit from greater attention to the narrative and care-giving aspects of health
practice, with more emphasis on its human and social aspects.
Keywords
Informatics - medicine - interdisciplinary education - molecules to populations -
genotype to phenotype - clinome - narrative medicine - evidence-based medicine
