Our Vision
NCCAM will advance research to yield insights and
tools derived from complementary and alternative
medicine to benefit the health and well-being of
the public, while enabling an informed public to
reject ineffective or unsafe practices.
The role of the National Center for Comple-
mentary and Alternative Medicine is to apply the
uncompromising standard of excellence in
research to healthcare practices and products
derived from many rich traditions. We will employ
best-in-the-world practices for the conduct of sci-
ence and the management of research, training,
and related activities. We are committed to the
timely dissemination of research findings to the
communities we serve, and in so doing regard it as
of the highest importance to facilitate the merger
of valuable CAM and conventional approaches
into a practice of “integrative medicine.” Such a
practice will involve multiple healthcare profes-
sionals working as an interdisciplinary team, thus
expanding the repertoire of ways to achieve and
maintain health.
NCCAM’s vision will be realized only by creating
and sustaining close partnerships across the spec-
trum of CAM consumers, investigators, and health-
care providers, and by reaching out to diverse
stakeholder groups for advice and exchange of
information.
Our Stakeholders
- Patients and the General Public
- Patient Advocacy Groups
- CAM Healthcare Researchers, Educators,
and Practitioners - Conventional Healthcare Researchers,
Educators, and Practitioners - Academic and Professional Associations
- NIH and other Government Agencies
- Research and Educational Institutions and
Foundations - International Research Organizations
- The Pharmaceutical, Nutriceutical, Dietary
Supplement, and Biotechnology Industries - The Media
- Congress
- Health Insurers
Strategic Areas
To achieve our vision, we have identified four strate-
gic areas: Investing in Research, Training CAM
Researchers, Expanding Outreach, and Facilitating
Integration. Each of these strategic areas has evolved
and will mature through an ongoing process of plan-
ning and evaluation, with substantial input from the
National Advisory Council for Complementary and
Alternative Medicine (Appendix IX lists members),
and our stakeholders.Strategic Area 1: Investing in Research
NCCAM will advance research by encouraging and
supporting CAM research projects according to the
philosophies and priorities outlined in Part II.^20 The
Center’s highest priority is clinical research, both
with respect to individual therapies and entire sys-
tems of medicine. While NCCAM will pursue inves-
tigations at all levels of the hierarchy of evidence
outlined in Table 1, our largest investment will be in
Phase III clinical trials, with proportionately smaller
investments in areas for which less evidence is avail-
able. NCCAM will also support basic science
research, not only through studies whose primary
aim is to elucidate basic mechanisms, but also by
exploiting opportunities afforded by clinical trials.
The Center is also committed to building
research capacity and infrastructure, both intramu-
rally and extramurally, in the United States and
abroad. Throughout these endeavors, the Center
will pursue the many advantages afforded by col-
laborations nationally and internationally, as well
as with fellow NIH Institutes and Centers, other
government agencies, and industry.Goal 1
Stimulate submission of high-quality applications in
CAM priority areas by both CAM and conventional
investigatorsObjectives:- Exhibit NCCAM information at professional
meetings and conduct grant-writing workshops.
222 The Encyclopedia of Complementary and Alternative Medicine