Antonia C. Novello, New York State Health Commissioner, discusses various public health and policy problems that medical professionals currently face.

Professional civil disobedience can have benefits and risks to both medical professionals and patients.

Expressing political views in a professional setting can be detrimental to the patient-physician relationship.

A past president of the AMA discusses the obligations of physicians to participate in health and social activism.

Physicians need to exhaust every possible alternative to bring about political changes before resorting to breaking the law as an act of civil disobedience.

Physicians need to perform their due diligence and practice caution when prescribing addictive pain medications to relieve their patients' chronic pain due to increased federal monitoring of pain prescriptions.

The national physicians' strikes in South Korea in 2000 succeeded in raising public awareness of defects in the Korean medical system and the need to reconcile the government health insurance system and private doctors.

The theme editor introduces an issue examining various ways physicians can become involved in social issues that benefit patients and society at large.

Mark McClellan, Commissioner of Food and Drugs, discusses pharmaceutical company research and the problems faced by funding for public health programs.

Physicians who are aware of various forms of human rights abuses are better able to serve and advocate for their patients.