At a time when healthcare management corporations are transforming the once intimate doctor-patient relationship into an impersonal provider-transaction, it is increasingly difficult for both doctors and the public at large to view medicine as an idealistic calling devoted solely to healing the sick. Yet the history of medicine is filled with dedicated individuals whose greatest motivation was and is a selfless passion to treat and cure illness. This book is more than just a compilation of technological achievements, it also emphasises the importance of committed individuals who proposed conceptual breakthroughs that made a telling difference to the human condition. Stressing that medicine should be founded on ethical integrity, compassion, and the encouragement of unfettered scientific research, the authors warn that powerful forces in contemporary society are in danger of seriously neglecting these fundamental principles. This mistake can and must be avoided as we promote the next 100 greatest advances yet to come.