Perhaps a generation ago, medicine was rocked by the ascendancy of molecular biology, the idea that the answer to disease involved breaking it down to its "scraps and pieces" (to use J.S. Haldane's phrase), its component molecular parts. While the molecular revolution did change the way we look at health and disease, and has led to successes such as the beginnings of molecularly-targeted treatments for some cancers, progress has been far slower than most anticipated. The brash confidence of the early pioneers of molecular medicine has been replaced in most quarters by humility derived from years of frustration and disappointment.
