Medicine is not a science, but a profession that encompasses medical science learning as well as personal, humanistic, and professional attributes. Nonetheless, the delivery of Western medicine depends totally on science and the scientific method. Since Flexner issued his famous report on the subject in 1910, American medical education has striven to develop a strong scientific base as an integral part of medical education at every level: premedical, medical, residency and continuing medical education. Biomedical science is fundamental to understanding disease, making diagnoses, applying new therapies and appreciating the complexities and opportunities of new technologies. The process of becoming a physician and being committed to lifelong learning requires that one possess the scientific base not only to acquire and appreciate new knowledge but to see new ways for applying it to patient care as well. The physician must be able to understand reports of current research in the medical literature in order to grasp and evaluate the newest and latest approaches, no matter how complicated the field may become.