Teaching Biochemistry

To the Editor:—  Samuel Bessman, MD, merits commendations for his "Who Teaches Physiological Chemistry" (197:409, 1966), which brings this critical problem to the attention of the medical community. It is presently necessary to develop both physiologically oriented departments of biochemistry and clinical chemistry laboratories under the direction of physiological chemistry departments of the medical schools.Allow me to cite a recent abstract of a survey report (Clin Chem12:548, 1966) undertaken to supply basic data on who in the United States is doing research in clinical chemistry—a question directly related to the issues at hand. The information indicated that the flow of research directly related to clinical chemistry originates from many workers, most of whom individually, however, publish rather infrequently. There is only a small nucleus of research scientists with a reasonably high productivity rate in clinical chemistry.Thus, as stressed in the publications, there must be a