NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
NATIONAL CENTER FOR COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
From the Director
Summer 2009 is a very busy and exciting time at the Center. In addition to our usual business, our staff is working very hard to put plans into place related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which President Obama signed into law in February (see Moving the Economy—and Biomedical Discovery—Ahead).
We are grateful to Congress and the Administration for this special influx of resources to further progress in biomedical research and improve the health of our Nation's economy. The next 2 years will be especially exciting for CAM research as investigators across the country pursue a multitude of research projects made possible by the Recovery Act.
As the Nation considers the very challenging topic of health care reform, the conversation will most certainly include the role of integrative medicine in preventing and treating disease and promoting health and wellness. These topics were explored at the Institute of Medicine's recent "Summit on Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public" (see IOM Summit Explores Integrative Medicine).
As I participated in the summit, I was excited to hear and meet so many people concerned with the future direction of health and health care in America. Facilitating the integration of proven CAM approaches and conventional medicine is a key goal of the Center.
We have many pressing health-related problems in our Nation today, and one of them is pain—especially chronic pain that is difficult to treat and places a heavy burden on afflicted individuals, their family members, the health care system, employers, and others. One of our articles in this issue of the newsletter addresses nonspecific low-back pain, which 4 out of 5 Americans experience at some point in their lives and which can, unfortunately, become chronic.
The evidence is growing that some CAM therapies, especially the manipulative and body-based practices, may be helpful for some people with low-back pain. NCCAM plans to make research on nonpharmacologic CAM approaches for this condition a priority. On May 27, NCCAM, in collaboration with several other NIH institutes and centers, convened an expert panel to help develop that research agenda.
I hope that you will visit our Web site and read our news publications to follow our progress in these and other areas, and provide input on the Center's future activities and direction through our strategic planning process.
Josephine P. Briggs, M.D.
Director
