Evidence-Based Medicine and Personalized Health Care

Medicine in the twentieth century was practiced by highly esteemed physicians trained by even more esteemed professors, whose statements you would not dare to question. With the rise of scientific research and discoveries, new medicines, surgical techniques, and insights into the origin of diseases emerged. A peptic ulcer, for example, was initially seen as a manager’s disease due to stress and excessive gastric acid, for which sometimes even extensive, risky surgical procedures were performed. This approach changed radically after the discovery of the bacterium causing the disease (Helicobacter pylori). Barry Marshall was awarded the Nobel Prize for this discovery in 2005. Treatment using medicine became the standard and surgeries disappeared.