Clinical research is entering a new era, said William Crowley, HMS professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, in his March 16 talk on the changing models of biomedical research, part of the Harvard Catalyst Colloquium Series.
Crowley introduced a new post–bench-to-bedside model that puts patients and diseases at the center of an iterative research process. Technological “game changers” such as genomics, informatics and imaging tools allow unbiased screens for root causes of disease and sophisticated interventions that target mechanisms rather than symptoms.
“The answers are in the patients,” said Crowley, “and we have the tools to find them.”
The new model is emerging because the bench-to-bedside approach, pioneered by Vannevar Bush, is no longer enough. Costs are too high and successes too few. “It’s like a giant sunflower that is falling over on its dweeby little stalk,” said Crowley. But to succeed, the new model will require more than new technologies. It will also depend on interdisciplinary teams and new funding models that support them.
