The 15 greatest discoveries in medicine

If you were asked what were the greatest medical breakthroughs of the past two centuries, what would you choose? This is the question asked by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) recently to mark the relaunch of the venerable journal.

BMJ readers voted on the greatest discoveries since the journal first published in 1840. From this 15 top discoveries were selected. "If we could have only one of them, which would it be?" the journal asked. "Would it be the identification of penicillin; the mass production of aspirin; the discovery of a link between smoking and lung cancer; or the world's first heart transplant?"

And the results? Sanitation beat 15 other medical advances, including the discovery of antibiotics, the creation of the Pill and the development of vaccines.

The University of Sydney's School of Public Health, in conjunction with the BMJ, has taken these famous 15 and created a lecture series that begins on Tuesday, April 10.

The first lecture explores the role of computers and how they have changed medicine. The lecture will be delivered by Dr Tony Delmothe, web editor of the BMJ and Professor Michael Kidd, head of the discipline of general practice at Sydney University, whose research includes the use of information technology in medical practice and education.

Other speakers in the series will include Professor Tony Cunningham, director of the Westmead Millennium Institute, who will explore tissue culture and how the artificial creation of cells has allowed stem cell research and gene therapy to exist.

Later in the series Professor Bruno Giuffre will uncover the story behind the film, in his talk on how a chance discovery led to modern day internal imaging and allowed surgeons to reach into the body without a scalpel.

Registration is essential. See www.health.usyd.edu.au/news/events/bmjlectures/register.php

Source: University of Sydney