Ebert Condemns Research Stress

Robert H. Ebert, Dean of the Medical School, yesterday criticized the overemphasis on "pure science" and research in medical schools, in a speech at the Medical School.

He felt that due to the extensive government funds now granted for research, doctors and professors tend to devote themselves to study and research. Consequently, they neglect the "human element" in medicine, Ebert noted.

"Medical research must continue, but to it must be added a new dimension. We must make sure that all people have the quality of care which is ours to give," Ebert said.

Ebert pointed out that today's doctors often used their time "inefficiently." He added that expanded research programs should not interfere with a doctor's relationship with his community.

He saw a need for a "new force on the medical school faculty--the hybrid man, who will be concerned with the total care of the patient, personal as well as clinical."

Ebert proposed the establishment of a program to exchange doctors and students with other medical schools and hospitals in the Boston area.

Ebert denied the view that the nation's medical schools today are solely concerned with academics, but not with the doctors once they have graduated from med school.

"The university is the perfect place to link medical advance with progress in the social sciences, because here there is time for experimentation with ways in which to approach the problem of helping the largest number of people," he said.

The speech was part of a series sponsored by the Medical Care Club, a group of third-year students. Future speakers in the series will be Marion B. Folsom, former Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare; William B. Stewart, U.S. Surgeon General; Herbert Sommers, a professor at Princeton; and Alonzo Yarby of the New York Board of Health.