Fig. 2. Intraoperative questions can lead to important extraoperative answers. In the historical example from the author's project, a large number of thematically cohesive and fundable research activities were made possible by starting with the basic “anesthesia” or “intraoperative” question, and then following the scientific questions for the disease of interest as they arose wherever they led. The questions—and the answers to them—did not respect the largely synthetic boundaries imposed by nineteenth and early twentieth century categorization of medical specialties. This is hypothesized to be a payoff from working with teams and networks, and mentors from a wide range of intellectual domains.