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Sydenham Society: Background
Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 60 (2007) 202
Sydenham Society: Background John Concato* Society for Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Research, Yale University School of Medicine, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, West Haven, CT 06516, USA Accepted 22 June 2005
This Introduction and two accompanying articles are based on the 2004 Sydenham Society session, sponsored by the Society for Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Research, and held in Chicago, IL, USA. The Sydenham Society is named after Thomas Sydenham, a 17th Century physician in London who later became known as the ‘‘English Hippocrates.’’ In an era of humoral medicine, he insisted that specific diseases could be identified. He also stressed the need for carefully observing patients and taking detailed case histories. In these and other ways, Thomas Sydenham can be regarded as an early clinical epidemiologist. The Sydenham Society, formed as an organization formed to support clinical epidemiology, had its initial session at the 1967 meeting of the American Federation for Clinical Research in Atlantic City, NJ, USA. The focus of the Society’s early years was to promote rigorous methods of patient-oriented research in a time period dominated by laboratory-oriented research. Comments made in 1987 by the late Alvan Feinsteindwho led the Sydenham Society for many yearsdsummarizes key attributes of the organization: ‘‘The Society is aimed at a relatively small group of interested people.with no efforts to become a large, formal organization.[but] the format of events at the annual
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 203-932-5711 (ext. 2993); fax: 203-9374932. E-mail address: [email protected] 0895-4356/07/$ e see front matter Ó 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2005.06.014
session [changes] in response to the changing environment and opportunities.’’ One relatively recent change was the creation of the Society for Clinical Epidemiology and Health care Researchd also known as the SCHRdfounded in 1998 as an outgrowth of the Clinical Epidemiology section of the American Federation for Medical Research. The SCHR provides a forum for presenting, discussing, and exchanging ideas about scientific research in clinical strategies of patient care. In this context, the SCHR sponsored the 2004 Sydenham Society session, and the SCHR itself was hosted by the Society for General Internal Medicine 2004 National Meeting. The topic of the session is carotid endarterectomy, or CEA; a surgical procedure intended to prevent stroke by removing atherosclerotic plaque in the internal carotid artery that might otherwise embolize, propagate clot, or occlude the vessel. The session explores methodological issues related to evaluating CEA, including how to determine appropriate use, and how to assess whether ‘‘true’’ disparities exist in use among different racial groups. Two corresponding articles follow, by Ethan Halm from Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Eugene Oddone from Duke University.
Sydenham Society: Background John Concato* Society for Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Research, Yale University School of Medicine, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, West Haven, CT 06516, USA Accepted 22 June 2005
This Introduction and two accompanying articles are based on the 2004 Sydenham Society session, sponsored by the Society for Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Research, and held in Chicago, IL, USA. The Sydenham Society is named after Thomas Sydenham, a 17th Century physician in London who later became known as the ‘‘English Hippocrates.’’ In an era of humoral medicine, he insisted that specific diseases could be identified. He also stressed the need for carefully observing patients and taking detailed case histories. In these and other ways, Thomas Sydenham can be regarded as an early clinical epidemiologist. The Sydenham Society, formed as an organization formed to support clinical epidemiology, had its initial session at the 1967 meeting of the American Federation for Clinical Research in Atlantic City, NJ, USA. The focus of the Society’s early years was to promote rigorous methods of patient-oriented research in a time period dominated by laboratory-oriented research. Comments made in 1987 by the late Alvan Feinsteindwho led the Sydenham Society for many yearsdsummarizes key attributes of the organization: ‘‘The Society is aimed at a relatively small group of interested people.with no efforts to become a large, formal organization.[but] the format of events at the annual
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 203-932-5711 (ext. 2993); fax: 203-9374932. E-mail address: [email protected] 0895-4356/07/$ e see front matter Ó 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2005.06.014
session [changes] in response to the changing environment and opportunities.’’ One relatively recent change was the creation of the Society for Clinical Epidemiology and Health care Researchd also known as the SCHRdfounded in 1998 as an outgrowth of the Clinical Epidemiology section of the American Federation for Medical Research. The SCHR provides a forum for presenting, discussing, and exchanging ideas about scientific research in clinical strategies of patient care. In this context, the SCHR sponsored the 2004 Sydenham Society session, and the SCHR itself was hosted by the Society for General Internal Medicine 2004 National Meeting. The topic of the session is carotid endarterectomy, or CEA; a surgical procedure intended to prevent stroke by removing atherosclerotic plaque in the internal carotid artery that might otherwise embolize, propagate clot, or occlude the vessel. The session explores methodological issues related to evaluating CEA, including how to determine appropriate use, and how to assess whether ‘‘true’’ disparities exist in use among different racial groups. Two corresponding articles follow, by Ethan Halm from Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Eugene Oddone from Duke University.