Whot is Clinic01 Chemistry?-A
Vocational Conversotion
All too often in the selection of his life work, the student has only a vague knowledge of the relationship of his chosen vocation to the world at large. The chemist can provide B service (ehemicsl rtndysis), develop and exploit new ideas (chemical research and development), transmit chemical ideas to others (chemical education), and direct the operations of a research or processing laboratory (chemical management). An adjunct to all of these areas of work is that of chemical literature and the chemical librarian. For chemistry students a knowledge of its ramifications is as important as the specEc details about any particular job. The clinical chemist who is well trained and takes his varied career seriously is at one and the same time an analyst, an investipator, - . an educator, and an administrator. Clinical chemistry is a. synthesis of the multiple disciplines of chemistry in their application to analytiral problems in clinical medicine. By extending analytic procedures to biological tissues and modifying methods so that they are applicable to smaller and smaller biological samples (ultramicro analysis), the clinical chemist has made it possible for the physician to obtain objective data. as an aid to diagnosis and prognosis. In addition to studies in methodology, the ultimate aim of clinical chemistry is to atudy the biochemical aspects of disease. The object of such investigations is to attempt to elucidate the biochemical lesions of disease and to understand the disease process and its metabolic consequences with the hope of plaoingdiagnosis and therapy on a.rational basis. The functions of the clinical chemist-educator are as varied as those of any other educator. He will teach methodology to student technicians, biochemist~ryand clinical biochemistry to medical students, interns, residents, and established physicians. His educational services to the graduate physician will provide a means for the physician to keep abreast of advances in medical science. In the large voluntary, community, or teaching hospital, the clinical chemist must also be an efficient administrator. He directs the work of a number of technicians in the analytical and research laboratories, appoints new employees, purchases equipment and ehemicals, and directs a well-rounded teaching program. Preparation for a career in clinical chemistry requires the usual undergraduate training in chemistry with graduate training leading to a master's degree and preferably to a doctorate in biological chemistry.
CARLALPER Depl. Biological Chemistvy Hahnemann Medical College Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Volume 37, Number 1 , January 1960
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