The medical research is one that aims to generate new knowledge that will help the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of diseases in humans. Since medicine is not an exact science, as if mathematics is, it is very experimental, since one remedy can serve 90% of the population, but that does not mean that it has to serve the remaining 10%.
In many countries, when studying a medical career, the importance of constant research is emphasized, either theoretically or through work and exhibitions, and there is a postgraduate degree in medical research in many universities. All advances in research are used daily by medical professionals, since each new medicine or each new operation are direct applications of medical research.
Before the Second World War, many of the great medical researchers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries did the experiments without the consent of their patients and without worrying about their welfare at all. During the Nazi era in Germany many experiments were carried out without taking into account the condition of the patient. These doctors were convicted in the Nuremberg Trials as war criminals.
The increase in human life expectancy in a hundred years can be attributed to an increase in medical research. Some of the most influential are vaccines for polio and measles, insulin for diabetics, various antibiotics, treatment for high blood pressure, improvement in the quality of treatment for people with AIDS, blockage of blood vessels, micro surgery, and cancer. The Human Genome Project is also believed to be able to provide new knowledge in medical research. But problems like antibiotic resistance and obesity still a big challenge in the field of medicine.
Most research in this field is carried out by biomedical scientists. However, significant contributions can also be made by experts in biology, chemistry, pharmacy, even physics. Medical research carried out on humans must go through a series of medical ethics as stipulated in the Declaration of Helsinki. In all cases, research ethics must also be respected.
