New Research Centers Announced
© WHO/P. Virot
On October 14, 2005, NCCAM announced it has funded five new research centers on CAM, at leading U.S. research institutions and through new global partnerships.
Three new Centers of Excellence will provide 5 years of support to experienced researchers at U.S. institutions who are studying the potential benefits of CAM practices and how they may work, using state-of-the-art technologies:
- Center for Arthritis and Traditional Chinese Medicine
University of Maryland, BaltimoreThis center will study traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) approaches—acupuncture and herbs—for the treatment of arthritis. The investigations will include a clinical trial of an herbal formula, HLXL, for osteoarthritis in people, and two animal studies (on HLXL's effect on autoimmune arthritis and on acupuncture for arthritic inflammation).
- Center for Chinese Herbal Therapy
Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York
Researchers will investigate a Chinese herbal treatment, ASHMI, for people with allergic asthma. Additional studies will look at how the herbs might work and will identify the active components.
- Center for Mechanisms Underlying Millimeter Wave Therapy
Temple University School of Medicine, PhiladelphiaThis center will study low-intensity, millimeter-length electromagnetic waves as a potential CAM treatment for a variety of diseases and conditions. Also, animal studies will explore this therapy for chronic itching and pain caused by nerve damage.
Two International Centers for Research on CAM will allow for study of CAM and traditional medicine practices in countries where the practices originated. The goals are to aid health care locally and globally and help build CAM research capacity internationally. These grants are being cofunded by three other components of NIH: the Office of Dietary Supplements, the Office of AIDS Research, and the Fogarty International Center.
- Functional Bowel Disorders in Chinese Medicine
University of Maryland, Baltimore; Chinese University of Hong Kong, China; University of Illinois, Chicago; University of Western Sydney, Sydney, Australia
This collaboration will conduct research on TCM practices—acupuncture and herbs—for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Researchers will study the effects of acupuncture and a TCM herbal preparation in an animal model of IBS. They will also conduct a preliminary study of the herbal preparation in people with IBS.
- The International Center for Indigenous Phytotherapy Studies: HIV/AIDS, Secondary Infections and Immune Modulation
University of Missouri, Columbia; University of the Western Cape, Bellville, Republic of South Africa; along with University of KwaZulu-Natal, University of Cape Town, and the South African Medical Research CouncilTraditional African plant-based therapies that are already in widespread use for HIV/AIDS and some of its secondary infections are the focus of this partnership. Researchers will conduct a small clinical trial using sutherlandia (Lessertia frutescens) in adults with HIV. They will also look at African wormwood (Artemisia afra), which is used by traditional healers for many conditions seen in people with HIV/AIDS.
NCCAM also announced a third international center, which is being funded by the National Cancer Institute:
- International Center of Traditional Chinese Medicine for Cancer
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston; Fudan University Cancer Hospital, Shanghai, ChinaThe research focus is studies of TCM approaches—herbs, acupuncture, and qi gong—for cancer, its symptoms, and treatment-related side effects.
For more information, go to nccam.nih.gov/training/centers.
