DOCTOR IN THE LAB - WHAT IS IT LIKE FOR A DOCTOR TO WORK WITH SCIENTISTS

As clinical academic medical departments strive to improve the quality of their research, clinicians and scientists are forced into closer l iaison. In many cases, clinical departments now have research laborato ries directed by ''basic scientists'' but often staffed, in part at le ast, by doctors. To someone who has not worked in one, these laborator ies may seem uncompromising and forbidding work environments. This art icle presents a ''case report'' written from the viewpoints of the doc tor, the scientist, and the professor.