Preface to the First Edition
Pharmaceutical medicine is a relatively new, but rapidly growing, academic discipline. As these trends
continue into the 21st century, pharmaceutical physicians are increasingly regarding consultancy work and
contract research organization (CRO) affiliation as good career opportunities, and now recognize the need
for continuing education and training in this broad spectrum discipline.
As editors, we would like to thank our contributors for their expertise, their dedication, and their vision.
We would like to thank and acknowledge the work and counsel of our colleague Robert Bell, MD,
MRPharmS, who helped us greatly during the early part of this project. We would also like to thank and
acknowledge the enormous help, encouragement, and patience of the team at John Wiley & Sons, Inc., UK,
with whom we have worked closely over these past few years, among whom we have particularly stressed (!)
Michael Davis, Deborah Reece, Hannah Bradley, Lewis Derrick, and Hilary Rowe.
Lastly, we would like to thank our families, and friends, who have withstood the frequent telephone calls,
e-mails, and meetings, often late into the night. Indeed, to all who made this project possible, both authors
and non-authors, we thank you. We are certain that this specialty, and our patients, even though we may help
them vicariously, will benefit because of your contributions.
Andrew Fletcher
Lionel Edwards
Tony Fox
Peter Stonier