Clinical Research Design

H. Paul Putman III, MD

Shoulders of Giants: Rules of Evidence

In this series we have reviewed some (mostly) famous examples of research in medical science that illustrate paths to future success:...

H. Paul Putman III, MD

Shoulders of Giants: Can Seeing Be Believed?

We have been exploring the important differences between retrospective and prospective studies, clarifying that the latter offer the...

H. Paul Putman III, MD

Shoulders of Giants: Design/Element

It is apocryphal that the psychiatric uses of lithium were discovered due to high levels of the element in the drinking water of cities...

H. Paul Putman III, MD

Shoulders of Giants: Looking Forward or Backward?

It seems hardly arguable that one of the greatest public health triumphs of the twentieth century was the linkage of cigarette smoking...

H. Paul Putman III, MD

Shoulders of Giants: Standing Up to the Crowd

“If you want something done right, do it yourself.”[1] Most current research is published with multiple authors, a mean of 11-18 in three...

H. Paul Putman III, MD

Shoulders of Giants: Theoretical Biology

Question: How many experiments did James Watson and Francis Crick perform to determine the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)?...

H. Paul Putman III, MD

Shoulders of Giants: Lessons from Great Research

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants." Isaac Newton, 1675 Modern society owes much to the Enlightenment...