Founding Director Stephen E. Straus, M.D.

In Memoriam
Stephen E. Straus, M.D.

Stephen E. Straus, M.D., 60, the first director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), died of brain cancer May 14, 2007, at his home in Potomac, Maryland.

“As the founding Director of NCCAM from 1999 to 2006, Dr. Straus built a comprehensive research enterprise, championing the efforts to establish the efficacy and safety of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practices while upholding the rigorous standards of science for which the NIH is known. Under his leadership, CAM research at NIH grew threefold, facilitating his vision of an evidence-based integrative approach to health care for the benefit of the public. As a friend and fellow virologist, I will sorely miss him. I am proud to have been chosen to be the Acting Director of NCCAM to uphold and further his vision for the Center,” said Ruth L. Kirschstein, M.D.

In Memoriam: Stephen E. Straus, M.D.