Under the above title a one-day Conference was recently held under the auspices of three relatively new organizations: The University Hospitals Association; the Medical Academic Staff Committee of the BMA; and the Federation of Associations of Clinical Professors. The existence of these bodies themselves reflects the growing recognition that academic medicine does not have a strong enough voice in the world of medical politics, especially as regards the allocation of resources. The meeting was attended by Sir Henry Yellowlees and at the beginning also by Dr Gerard Vaughan. We should note with pleasure that we are the only Medical College with a Fellow who is a Minister in the Government.