Prepare for Your Visit
You can make the most of your visit by being an active participant. At Yale Medicine, we encourage you to raise questions and concerns, and provide your physicians with information that will help them to take care of you.
It’s helpful to know and tell your medical provider about:
- Family medical history
- Changes in your family medical history
- Any symptoms and problems that you have been experiencing
- Your current health
Bring with you
- A list of your prescription medications, dosages, and frequency. This includes: over-the-counter medications, supplements, or herbs.
- A support person (spouse, family member, or friend) to ask questions and provide comfort if you are nervous about your appointment.
Schedule testing, imaging, or procedures
If you have the opportunity to do so, contact your provider’s office and ask if you can schedule laboratory tests, imaging, or procedures in advance of your appointment.
Complete your health information forms before your appointment
Below are links to health information form(s) listed by your physician’s medical specialty. Simply click on the link below, print, and complete your health history form(s) before your appointment. Bring the completed form(s) to your appointment.
Most health information forms are listed below. If you do not see your provider’s medical specialty, the forms are not available online and will be coming soon.
James Watson and Francis Crick determined the structure of DNA in 1953, using the X-ray crystallography work of Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins that indicated DNA has a helical structure (i.e., shaped like a corkscrew).[31][32] Their double-helix model had two strands of DNA with the nucleotides pointing inward, each matching a complementary nucleotide on the other strand to form what look like rungs on a twisted ladder.[33] This structure showed that genetic information exists in the sequence of nucleotides on each strand of DNA. The structure also suggested a simple method for replication: if the strands are separated, new partner strands can be reconstructed for each based on the sequence of the old strand. This property is what gives DNA its semi-conservative nature where one strand of new DNA is from an original parent strand.[34].
Although the structure of DNA showed how inheritance works, it was still not known how DNA influences the behavior of cells. In the following years, scientists tried to understand how DNA controls the process of protein production.[35] It was discovered that the cell uses DNA as a template to create matching messenger RNA, molecules with nucleotides very similar to DNA. The nucleotide sequence of a messenger RNA is used to create an amino acid sequence in protein; this translation between nucleotide sequences and amino acid sequences is known as the genetic code.[36] With the newfound molecular understanding of inheritance came an explosion of research.[37] A notable theory arose from Tomoko Ohta in 1973 with her amendment to the neutral theory of molecular evolution through publishing the nearly neutral theory of molecular evolution. In this theory, Ohta stressed the importance of natural selection and the environment to the rate at which genetic evolution occurs.[38] One important development was chain-termination DNA sequencing in 1977 by Frederick Sanger. This technology allows scientists to read the nucleotide sequence of a DNA