Ancel Keys Lecture. The three beauties. Bench, clinical, and population research.

Ancel Keys made pioneer contributions to the basic concept of population causes of cardiovascular diseases (CVD).' The first lecturer, Geoffrey Rose of London, elaborated the rationale for population strategies of CVD prevention.2 I want to develop further those concepts and address the pervasive influence of two views of disease -the population view and the individual view -on the thinking and activities in CVD research, policy, and practice. I propose that a narrow focus on the individual accounts for most of the professional misunderstanding and public confusion about preventing cardiovascular and other mass chronic diseases. I also will dwell on how these two views affect biomedical research in general and epidemiology and prevention in particular. To begin, I borrow from the insights of Charles Dickens inA Tale of Two Cities: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. . . ," and suggest that this may be as true today for CVD epidemiology as it was for life in 18th century London and Paris!