The articles collected in this volume began as papers presented at a
symposium, entitled "The Physician as Captain of the Ship: A Critical
Reappraisal," that was held at the University of North Carolina in
Chapel Hill on May 15±17, 1986. We have a great many sponsors and
supporters to thank. First and foremost among our sponsors is the
Medicine and Society Program of the North Carolina Humanities Committee
and the Duke Endowment; many thanks are also due to the
American Medical Association Education and Research Foundation
and the Burroughs Wellcome Corporation. We are also most grateful
for the support of the UNC School of Medicine: Dean Stuart Bondurant
and Glenn Wilson, Chair of the Department of Social and Administrative
Medicine, were both instrumental in the success of the symposium
from which this volume has grown. The editors of this Series, Stuart F.
Spicker and H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr., freely gave priceless assistance
and advice.