Today, of course, the linkage between research and practice in medicine is so tight that no physician would dream of ignoring the findings of rigorous research. Because medical practice is so closely based on medical research, funding for medical research is vast, and advances in medicine take place at breathtaking speed. My father’s cardiologist recommended that he wait a few years to have a necessary heart valve operation because he was sure that within that short span of time, research would advance far enough to make the wait worthwhile. As it turned out, he was right.