"John Bonica formalized the recognition of pain as a clinical entity; the work emphasized the pain syndrome's individualized consideration, as opposed to it being thought of as little more than an accompaniment of acute trauma, or an even worse myth, the miserable complaints of neurotic patients who stubbornly refuse to heal. Bonica's formal conceptualization of pain as a disease state within its own right stimulated an ever widening wave of research and clinical application culminating in the newest specialty recognized in Medicine..."