Reductionist Biology and Population Medicine—Strange Bedfellows or a Marriage Made in Heaven?

An important contribution, in the form of a House of Delegates—approved policy report from the American Medical Association Council on Scientific Affairs, appears elsewhere in this issue of The Journal. Entitled "The IOM Report and Public Health,"¹ the Council report does three things very well: (1) it clearly and precisely summarizes one of the best and potentially most effective and influential Institute of Medicine reports of recent years; (2) it delineates the little-known, inadequately appreciated but extensive history of the relationships and interactions among the public health establishment, the community of practicing physicians, and the American Medical Association over the years; and (3) it presents a series of recommendations for physicians and organized medicine to follow vis-à-vis the public's health and society's efforts to optimize the health of its citizenry.

After describing the broad array of disciplines and professionals that must be brought to bear on the complex health