What:	The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a major teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, are sponsoring a town meeting on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). National and local medical experts will speak on current developments in CAM research at the local, regional and national levels as well as at the National Institutes of Health. NOTE: The event is free and will include an extensive question and answer session.
Who:	The speakers include Stephen E. Straus, M.D., director, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health, and David M. Eisenberg, M.D., director of the Center for Alternative Medicine Research and Education, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Experts in three complementary and alternative medicine disciplines, acupuncture, massage therapy, and chiropractic, will also speak.
When:	Wednesday, March 15, 2:00-5:00 p.m. (town meeting) A press conference will follow at 5:15 p.m.
Where:	Boston Marriott Copley Place, Grand Ballroom, 110 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA
Why:	A growing number of Americans are using complementary and alternative medicine. A 1998 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association by David Eisenberg and his colleagues documented that 4 out of 10 Americans used complementary and alternative medicine therapies in 1997. This study also reported that the total number of visits to alternative medicine practitioners increased 50 percent from 1990 to 1997, to 629 million visits per year.

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) is one of 25 Institutes and Centers that comprise the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a federal government agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

NCCAM's mission is to conduct and support basic and applied research and research training and to disseminate research information on CAM practices to health professionals and the public. For additional information about NCCAM, please contact our public information clearinghouse at 1-888-644- 6226 or access information about our research, programs, and activities electronically via our website at http://nccam.nih.gov.