Figure 1.

Graphic metaphor of potential synergies and competition between medical informatics (MI) and bioinformatics (BI) indicating directions from current emphases toward increased interactions and the sharing of methods and tools within biomedical informatics. The diagonal zone represents the area of largest expected complementarities and synergies, while the lightly outlined central oval represents a zone of possible competitive challenges in subtopics of greatest overlap between MI and BI.