'Do Research,' Nobel Laureate Roger Kornberg Urges Graduates of Stanford Medical School
STANFORD, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
Nobel laureate Roger Kornberg, PhD, professor of structural
biology at the Stanford University School of Medicine, will deliver
the commencement address to the medical school's class of 2008 on June
14. Kornberg won the 2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discoveries
of how DNA is converted into RNA, a process known as transcription. In
recent months, he has met with national lawmakers to discuss the
importance of continuing to fund scientific research. The text of his
speech follows below:
"Dean Pizzo, members of the faculty, families, friends, and most
of all, class of 2008.
"It is a privilege to speak on this occasion and to offer some
observations on our profession and our times.
"Many of you will be aware, from the signs posted all around, that
this is not only a special year for the graduates of Stanford Medical
School, but also for the school itself, the 100th anniversary of its
founding. What fewer may know is that modern medicine or, more
particularly, medical science, is only about 100 years old as well.
Little over a century ago, disease was attributed to an imbalance of
humors, and the only treatments were bleeding and violent purgatives.
Medical schools were trade shops funded by fees from the students, who
gained licenses to inflict their ignorance on the general population.
Change began in Europe in the latter part of the 19th century, with
the germ theory of disease and the work of Pasteur, Koch, Ehrlich and
others. Charles Eliot, then president of Harvard, was aware of these
developments and of the appalling state of American medical education,
and proposed to introduce medical science in the curriculum at Harvard
medical school. The most powerful member of the faculty objected,
"Eliot actually proposes to have written examinations for the degree
of doctor of medicine. I had to tell him that ... more than half of
(our) students can barely write.... No medical school has thought it
proper to risk large existing classes and large receipts by
introducing ... rigorous standards." Dean Pizzo assures me all of our
graduates today can read and write. And all our graduates are imbued
with the spirit of what followed in the 20th century, the rise of
medicine from roots in science, from exploration in all fields from
physics to biology.
"If I were to ask members of this audience what were the most
important advances in medicine during the 20th century, most would
make a similar list: X-rays, for both diagnosis and treatment;
antibiotics, which have largely eradicated bacterial disease; cell
culture, which led to the polio vaccine; noninvasive imaging,
especially magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, for early detection of
cancer and other conditions; genetic engineering, which is the basis
of most new medicines; the list could go on. These medical advances
have one thing in common: They were all discoveries made in the
pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, with no idea of any
application, no purpose in the prevention or cure of disease. The
lesson of the past is counterintuitive: To solve a difficult problem
in medicine, don't study it directly, but rather pursue a curiosity
about nature and the rest will follow. Do basic research.
"The success of medical science has become, in a way, its undoing.
We are dazzled by the knowledge we have acquired and rush to apply it
to medical problems. This is understandable, but often premature. Take
the human genome, the true font of medical knowledge. It's all there,
the answer to every question about human biology. The trouble is the
answers are written in a language we don't understand. It is a
multidimensional and dynamic language. The products of the genome,
both protein and RNA molecules, interact with one another and with the
genome itself in a dance of dizzying complexity. At present, we can
only dimly perceive the significance. We can grasp a tiny fraction of
1 percent of what there is to know and understand. Just imagine, if
the medicine of today flows from this tiny bit of knowledge, how much
more would be possible if we knew the remaining 99 percent. What more
persuasive call to the pursuit of basic research can there be?
"And yet this call is often unheeded. Traveling across the United
States and abroad, I'm disheartened by a shift from research to
application. It's ironic. Just as the lesson of the past century is
learned, it is forgotten.
"This is not only a scientific but also a political problem. The
support of basic research has traditionally come from government
rather than the private sector, and for good reason. The timeline is
very long -- basic problems take decades to solve. Only the public,
with a lifelong interest, will support such an undertaking. Industry,
with a short-term interest and eye on the bottom line, can hardly be
expected to do so. What CEO could report to his or her board that a
major investment has been made in research that may or may not become
profitable in 10 to 20 years, or longer? Let me give you a specific,
disquieting example. Pharmaceutical companies developing anti-cancer
therapies are regularly forced to choose between a drug that cures
cancer with a single dose and one that must be administered weekly and
which only prolongs life by a year or two. Management invariably makes
the right decision on behalf of shareholders, and pursues the
less-effective drug. This is not an isolated or rare occurrence. It
occurs on a weekly basis. Government clearly has a special
responsibility and a unique role to play.
"Our government has performed this role admirably in the past.
Some 50 years ago, in perhaps the most farsighted action of any
legislative body in history, the U.S. Congress began funding basic
biomedical research. The investment has been repaid many times over.
How many people do you think were crippled or died of polio last year
in the United States? The answer is virtually none, due of course to
the polio vaccine. Imagine the savings in treatment and productivity,
not to mention human suffering. Not only has the investment in medical
research been repaid, but it was small to begin with. The annual
budget for cancer research today is only $5 billion, less than 10
percent of our annual expenditure on soft drinks, less than a week of
the war in Iraq. And yet, despite its small size, this budget has been
cut repeatedly over the past decade. At a time when medical science is
poised for the ultimate payoff -- the cure of cancer and other dread
diseases -- many promising leads are being abandoned.
"Finally, you may ask, what does all of this have to do with
Stanford and the class of 2008? The answer is leadership. Stanford
Medical School has shown the way in American medicine because of a
decision about 50 years ago to focus on basic science. Our medical
school owes its pre-eminence in large part to achievements in this
area. Today, in the face of retrenchment worldwide, Stanford must
rededicate itself to basic science. What was good for Stanford and
others before will be even better in the future. Stanford must
continue to lead.
"And you, the class of 2008, have the most important role to play.
You have received the best possible education in medical science. Let
it guide your professional lives. Let your practice of medicine be not
only compassionate, but also productive of new knowledge. Do research.
Advocate for it. Yours is the legacy of 100 years of Stanford medicine
and of American medical science. You will be the ones to carry it
forward, to instill it in others, and to realize our hopes and dreams
for the betterment of the human condition."
Stanford University Medical Center integrates research, medical
education and patient care at its three institutions -- Stanford
University School of Medicine, Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile
Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. For more information, please
visit the Web site of the medical center's Office of Communication &
Public Affairs at http://mednews.stanford.edu.
(NOTE TO REPORTERS: A high-resolution photo of Roger Kornberg is
available for download at
http://med.stanford.edu/news_releases/2008/download/Kornberg.jpg. The
commencement ceremony will be broadcast live online at
http://med.stanford.edu/commencement/.)
Stanford University Medical Center
Ruthann Richter, 650-725-8047 (Print Media)
richter1@stanford.edu
Donna Alvarado, 650-724-9949 (Print Media)
dalvarado@stanford.edu
M.A. Malone, 650-723-6912 (Broadcast Media)
mamalone@stanford.edu
Copyright Business Wire 2008
