Amid a devastating HIV epidemic, some South African pediatricians treat as many as 100 children per day. With such overwhelming case loads, the physicians have little time to review the information they were offered in medical school on the topic of immunology—a topic they often consider a laboratory science with little clinical application—to better understand factors contributing to HIV pathology.

Comparative effectiveness research, the use of science to assess the value of medical treatments, has become part of the debate over health care reform but remains widely misunderstood, according to experts at a recent Capitol Hill luncheon briefing organized by AAAS and The Hastings Center.