Dr Robert Laidlaw

Point of view

Between the hype and the dismissal

Somewhere between the hype and the dismissal of emerging therapies is a conversation medicine needs to get much better at having. Promising innovation should neither be rushed into patient care because it’s exciting, nor dismissed simply because the evidence isn’t perfect yet. The harder question — the one my work keeps returning to — is: what needs to be true for an emerging therapy to earn clinical trust?

My career spans clinical medicine, medical leadership, governance and digital health — emergency medicine, addiction medicine, neurosurgical training and telehealth; building clinical sites and telehealth operations from scratch; contributing to national clinical guidelines with the Department of Health; and international work through the WHO Digital Health Roster. That breadth shaped a simple philosophy: patient safety before commercial interests, evidence before ideology, innovation with accountability.

This site connects those threads: clinical practice, ventures, and writing on how emerging therapies earn their place in mainstream medicine.