NCCAM Expands Research Centers Program with Three Centers of Excellence and Two International Centers

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) announces funding of three centers of excellence and two international centers for the study of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). With these new awards NCCAM, a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), continues to enhance CAM research capacity by funding centers at leading U.S. institutions and by establishing new global partnerships.

Three of the five new centers will explore therapies used in traditional Chinese medicine, including acupuncture and Chinese herbal mixtures. The other two centers will study a type of energy medicine (millimeter wave therapy) and botanical therapies used by traditional healers in Africa. To read the full press release go to http://nccam.nih.gov/news/2005/101405.htm.

Centers of Excellence for Research on CAM

Center for Arthritis and Traditional Chinese Medicine
Principal Investigator: Brian Berman, M.D.
Institution: University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD

Center for Chinese Herbal Therapy
Principal Investigator: Xiu-Min Li, M.D.
Institution: Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY

Center for Mechanisms Underlying Millimeter Wave Therapy
Principal Investigator: Marvin Ziskin, M.D.
Institution: Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA

International Centers for Research on CAM

Functional Bowel Disorders in Chinese Medicine
Principal Investigator: Brian Berman, M.D
Partner Institutions: University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD; Chinese University of Hong Kong, China; University of Illinois, Chicago, IL; University of Western Sydney, Sydney, Australia

The International Center for Indigenous Phytotherapy Studies: HIV/AIDS, Secondary Infections and Immune Modulation
Principal Investigator: William Folk, Ph.D.
Partner Institutions: University of Missouri, Columbia, MO; 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 Council

For additional information contact the NCCAM Press Office at 301-496-7790 or e-mail nccampress@mail.nih.gov.