Evolutionary Medicine : clinical medicine from an evolutionary perspective

Until recently, the role of evolution in the understanding of treatment and prevention of disease had not been considered by most clinicians, but there is now growing interest in the potential clinical applicability of taking an evolutionary approach towards understanding an array of medical conditions including antibiotic resistance, obesity, psychiatric disorders, autoimmune diseases and cancer. To explore how the evolutionary aspects of health and disease can lead to the improvement of clinical medicine, BMC Medicine has launched an article collection on evolutionary medicine with guest editors Martin Brüne and Ze’ev Hochberg.