How can you adequately honor a man of deeds with mere words? Dr. Donald Eaton Gregg is recognized throughout the scientific world for his distinguished contributions to our knowledge of the coronary circulation, his advances in experimental instrumentation and design, his scientific integrity and his lasting influence on other investigators. His research associates over the years are now liberally scattered over the entire world. Their accomplishments and activities reflect the quality of their training in his Department of Cardiorespiratory Diseases at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. The positions of prestige occupied by these men attest to Dr. Gregg's ability to select and inspire men of talent, yet in his usual modest way he insists that he was only fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. Thus, at the time of Dr. Gregg's retirement as Chief of the Department of Cardiorespiratory Diseases, a position he has held since 1950, his associates thought that a scientific symposium was the most appropriate way to honor a man of his stature. Accordingly, on March 29-30, 1973 a Symposium on Current Topics in Coronary Research was held at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Its objectives were to define our present state of knowl edge and, more importantly, define the basic questions requiring further experimentation in four major areas of coronary research, i. e."

The biomedical community often complains of the crowded schedule of important meetings to be attended. It was thus with some reser vations when the individuals participating in this conference accepted the invitation to attend a small gathering to discuss the "Comparative Pathophysiology of Circulatory Disturbances," held over three days in November, 1971. At the end of it they had changed their minds and were enthusiastic over the wisdom to hold meetingsof this kind. The conference was conceived some years earlier when it was apparent to the conveners that little opportunity exists in the common mammoth meetings to exchange detailed information and, p- haps more importantly, to transmit points of view between scientists of different disciplines. In particular, the voice of veterinarians and comparative biologists is not often heard by medical investigators, and vice versa. Thus, many animal models exist in nature whose investigative exploitation might make important contributions to an understanding of human disease, yet they are unknown to medical scientists. Conversely, veterinarians are often not aware of the needs of such models and their recognition is often delayed unduly. This conference, attended by investigators of various back grounds was called to help correct these deficiencies, at least in a small segment of study, that concerned with circulatory pathophysiology."