Looking back on my nearly half century as a doctor, I find myself thinking about the most impactful discoveries in the history of medicine.
The ethical foundation of medical practice was laid over 2000 years ago by Hippocrates with his focus on ethical practice. “The oath dictates the obligations of the physician to students of medicine and the duties of pupil to teacher. In the oath, the physician pledges to prescribe only beneficial treatments, according to his abilities and judgment; to refrain from causing harm or hurt; and to live an exemplary personal and professional life.”
Maimonides extended the ethical basis of medical practice reinforcing that is a calling to service “The eternal providence has appointed me to watch over the life and health of Thy creatures. May the love for my art actuate me at all time; may neither avarice nor miserliness, nor thirst for glory or for a great reputation engage my mind; for the enemies of truth and philanthropy could easily deceive me and make me forgetful of my lofty aim of doing good to Thy children.”
Next came the age of anaotomy and physiolgy where the basic structure and function of the body and its organ systems was described. DaVinci was among them.
The discovery of “germ theory” by Pasteur opened our eyes to the microbial world while Semmelweis and Lister created antiseptic practice.
Jenner comes next in my mind, the first to pioneer vaccination, the single greatest public health intervention in human history which led to eradiaction of Small Pox from the face of the earth.
The discovery of x-rays by Roentgen and Curie opened up the field of imaging which has now become MRI, CT and PET scanning. Truly incredible technologies.
The next great discovery, penicllin, by Fleming ushered in the era of of antimicrobial agents which have save hundreds of millions of lives.
We are now witnesseing another milestone in the history of medicine, the discovery of mRNA based vaccines. There is a reason why their deveolopers just won the Nobel Prize. They not only saved 20 million lives during the worst of the COVID pandemic, but they offer the very real possibility of vaccines against another great scurge, cancer.
mRNA based vaccines have earned their place amomng the greatest doscoveries in medicine. Kariko and Weissman have earned their spot among the giants of medicine.