In recent years, I have had occasion to reflect on my professional journey as both a clinician and a researcher, and have reviewed my attempts (albeit rather clumsy and not always successful) to integrate scientific enquiry and translational research into contemporary practice as an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. Looking back over more than 30 years of clinical research, I recognise a little more clearly now that a fundamental progression occurred in our research work from initial, patient orientated, interventional studies (valuable patient cohort research but inevitably limited in impact owing to reliance on individual clinical presentations) to more wider population studies to characterise disease presentation at the earliest possible stages and to refocus efforts towards addressing population-based health issues.1,2
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