Molecular epidemiology: potential impacts on the assessment of public health.

In trying to decide what type of scientific paper I could prepare as a tribute to Jim Neel, I thought back over the discussions that we had over some 25 years. Sometimes these discussions were on specific topics such as how to extrapolate from mutation data in mice to those for humans following radiation or chemical exposures. On other occasions, our discussions were of a more philosophical nature, particularly on where the field of epidemiology might or needed to go. For example, what types of data are needed for assessing the public health impact of exposure to environmental agents. Perhaps because I enjoyed these discussions so much, I have chosen to take a look from a current perspective at the field of molecular epidemiology. Jim Neel would have loved to have entered into this discussion; he would have enhanced it in is own inimitable way.