EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION : FOUNDATIONS AND HORIZONS FOR SEEKING THE PERSON AT THE CENTER OF MEDICINE

Abstract

As medical historian Harvey White et al have proclaimed, there is no medicine without the person. This may be traced back to the times of our Neanderthal ancestors, among whom life survival and health restoration seemed to have depended on mutual social support. Contemporary times witness the growing prominence of the person in medicine, health, and education. Person Centered Medicine, as a basic concept, recognizes the whole person as the center of health and as the goal and protagonist of health actions. This also means a medicine of the person, for the person, by the person and with the person. Articulating science and humanism, Person Centered Medicine strives for a medicine informed by evidence, experience, and values and aimed at the restoration and promotion of health for all.