title: Strategies for research: active or passive.
abstract: This paper provides an introduction to a symposium on challenges for medical research held to mark the golden jubilee of the Medical Research Council of New Zealand. It provides some historical, international and national perspectives for the papers which follow and discusses the interrelationships which exist between society, health care and medical research and also between medical research workers, the institutions in which they work and the agencies which provide funds for research. The point is made that in basic research, where the final applications of the new knowledge cannot be predicted, the initiative and direction may equally well be determined by the investigators or by the institutions which support them. It is considered that the research funding agencies, however, have a major responsibility to actively encourage research in fields where specific needs for improved health care can be defined or predicted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Auckland School of Medicine.
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Gavin
mesh_terms: D014943:Global Health; D006077:Government Agencies; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D009520:New Zealand; D012106:Research / Q000266:history; D012109:Research Support as Topic; D006113:United Kingdom; D014944:World Health Organization