Opportunities for Discovery: Seeing What Others Do Not See

A word from the author:

Many readers probably think that books about science, especially medicine, are complicated and difficult to understand. In deciding to write about my experience in research, I realized that my choice of topics had involved answers to practical questions which would be of interest to most people. You don't have to be a graduate in medicine, biology or chemistry to understand what I saw as being important in our daily lives.

I begin my story with a brief introduction about why I chose a career in medical research. Being a child of immigrants, my early years were somewhat more complicated than those of my classmates, which made me question some widely held beliefs. I have no doubt that these experiences had an impact on my future career in medicine. This path led to a variety of experiences, including:

• Research that helped show that Aspirin prevents heart attacks;
• Facing off in court with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and its newsmagazine program the fifth estate;
• Investigating whether drinking coffee is bad for heart health;
• Studying whether patients report accurate home blood pressure readings to their doctors;
• Finding out whether people with high blood pressure should use nasal decongestants; and
• Learning what to expect from our hearts and brains as we get older

As you can see, most of these topics should be of general interest. And if you wonder about aspects of ordinary living that might affect your health, you should enjoy reading this book! At the very least, the different chapters should help you to evaluate what you see or read when it comes to the various treatments promoted in the media. By the last page, you will be more likely to wonder which claims you hear about in the news are actually supported by high quality research studies.