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Clinical biochemistry: introduction

Published on February 26, 2026   43 min

A selection of talks on Clinical Practice

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0:00
Greetings and welcome to this clinical biochemistry lecture series. My name is Anna Carobene, and I am a senior manager in clinical biochemistry at the Scientific Institute San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, Italy. When I was invited to coordinate this series, I initially thought it would be a simple task since I have been working in this field for many years. However, as I began inviting speakers, I quickly realized that clinical biochemistry encompasses an exceptionally broad range of topics touching on almost every aspect of clinical medicine. The field of laboratory medicine is, in fact, highly specialized with subfields such as biochemistry, hemostasis and thrombosis, hematology, immunohematology, toxicology, endocrinology, and molecular diagnostics to name just a few. This diversity of topics underscores the critical role that laboratory medicine plays in supporting and advancing health care across all specialties. In this course, we will focus specifically on clinical biochemistry leaving aside fields like microbiology and virology which are covered in separate lecture series by Henry Stewart Talks. Before introducing the course,
1:26
I would like to briefly touch on the history of medicine from its ancient origins to the modern healthcare system, highlighting how the clinical laboratory has evolved alongside it. Diagnostic practices have evolved through three distinct eras. Bedside medicine dominated from the Middle Ages to the 18th century, focusing on clinical observation and direct interaction with the patients. Hospital medicine emerging in the late 18th and early 19th century emphasized detailed clinical examination and the use of the hospital setting for diagnosis. Finally, laboratory medicine was established in the late 19th century introducing systematic scientific testing of patient specimens. Today, laboratory medicine is regarded as a cornerstone of modern diagnostics. It provided a data-driven foundation for medical decision- making linking clinical observation to underlying biological processes. Historians now recognize the clinical laboratory as the bedrock of medical authority shaping the way we understand, diagnose and treat disease. In Ancient Greece, medical diagnosis relied

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Clinical biochemistry: introduction

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