Evidence-Based Medicine Matters

Professor Sir John Bell

President, The Academy of Medical Sciences

The Academy of Medical Sciences’ core goal is to promote advances in medical science and to ensure these are translated as quickly as possible into benefits for society - a goal that is firmly rooted in the aims and spirit of evidence based medicine. The development of safe and effective health interventions requires an understanding of underlying physiological processes and the use of rigorous methods to test assumptions and validate results. Advances in information technology now allow large amounts of data to be systematically collected and analysed to ensure patients receive treatments based on the best possible evidence. But the evidence base is constantly evolving; patients, healthcare professionals and researchers all have a role to play in contributing to knowledge that will improve future care. We believe that academic values and the spirit of inquiry should be pervasive throughout medicine and healthcare.