Is Phenomenology the Best Approach to Health Research?

Much research at the National Institutes of Health--for example, the NIH Roadmap (http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/)--has focused on aspects of systems biology and the application of new technologies, which might best be considered descriptive or phenomenological. Unfortunately, etiologic research and social, behavioral, and environmental population studies are at risk of becoming second-class research. In particular, the Roadmap does not address the need for studies of unique populations, determinants of the large variations in disease among populations and over time, and the long incubation period for many diseases. Success in reducing disease in the population will depend on linking the enormous potential of phenomenological methods to excellent etiologic and social/behavioral studies. The phenomenological approach alone will improve our descriptions of disease but may not result in reducing disease burden in human populations.