Understanding the Role of Uric Acid in Gout

Certainly, self-experimentation by physicians, which played a role in many important and historic medical discoveries, especially in the first part of the twentieth century, is now not viewed through the same lens. “I’d like to find the rheumatologists who would be brave enough to repeat these studies on themselves,” says Dr. Mikuls. “Gout is hugely painful. People who get it say, ‘This is the worst thing I’ve ever had.’ To do this to yourself is gutsy and shows a high level of commitment and intellectual curiosity.”

Ruth Jessen Hickman, MD, is a graduate of the Indiana University School of Medicine. She is a freelance medical and science writer living in Bloomington, Ind.

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