NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
NATIONAL CENTER FOR COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
Planning Process To Invite Public Input
NCCAM is launching the process of developing its third strategic plan. In the first phase, NCCAM's many stakeholders will be invited to submit comment, through the Web, on the Center's future activities and direction.
Jack Killen, M.D., Deputy Director of NCCAM, is leading the planning endeavor, which has a target completion date of September 2010. In an interview with Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Dr. Killen noted that the planning process and the resulting plan will be
- Science- and data-driven
- Grounded in NCCAM's mission
- Conducted under the auspices of the National Advisory Council for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NACCAM)
- Carried out and developed with active inclusion and participation of NCCAM's highly diverse stakeholder community
- Built on collaborations and partnerships across scientific fields and disciplines and NIH institutes and centers.
The planning process will be conducted in three phases:
- The Center will invite several waves of stakeholder input on various strategic topics and questions posted for comment on the NCCAM Web site.
- Several topical workshops and "think tank" meetings will be based on input received in Phase 1.
- There will be posting for public comment of a draft strategic plan and development, in consultation with the NACCAM, of the final document, to be released by September 2010.
"Given the number of exciting and promising opportunities to improve health and health care currently on the CAM research horizon and the high level of public and scientific interest in CAM," Dr. Killen said, "it is more important than ever for the Center to have a strategic framework for priorities and decisionmaking. We hope that this newsletter's readers, as well as our other stakeholders, will take the time to participate actively in this process."
Updates on strategic planning will be posted at nccam.nih.gov.
