Research Centres

More and more money is being spent on researching the value of complementary and alternative medicine. Centers around the globe are trying to validate some of the complementary health care practices that are gaining popularity. Below are a list of links to centers in Canada and the US that are researching complementary and alternative medicine.

Research Centers for Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Canada

Biomira Inc
http://www.biomira.com
Biomira is investigating therapeutic cancer vaccines in clinical trials in Canada, the United States and Europe. Areas that have been under investigation with the therapeutic vaccines were in patients with metastatic cancers of the breast, colon, or ovary. The vaccines are still experimental at this time and are not available for general clinical use.

CAMera: Complementary & Alternative Medicine Education and Research Network of Alberta
The Complementary and Alternative Medicine Education and Research Network of Alberta ("CAMera Network") was founded in June 2002 to help researchers and practitioners with an interest in CAM overcome the barriers of conducting CAM research.

Canadian Institutes of Health Research
http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/
Canadian Institutes of Health Research is Canada's premier health research funding agency which funds over 8,500 researchers in universities, teaching hospitals, and research institutes across Canada.

INCAM: Canadian Interdisciplinary Network of Complementary & Alternative Medicine Research
http://www.incamresearch.ca
IN-CAM is an interdisciplinary collaborative research network, created to foster excellence in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) research in Canada.

United States

The National Institutes of Health currently invests approximately $40 million per year in complementary and alternative medicine research. Below are some of the hospitals receiving funding for complementary and alternative medicine research.

U-M Complementary and Alternative Medicine Research Center
Cardiovascular Research
The University of Michigan is one of the 13 NIH funded research centers investigating alternative therapies that might help prevent, manage and treat cardiovascular disease and its associated conditions.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine Program at Stanford, or CAMPS:
http://camps.stanford.edu/
Aging
The Complementary and Alternative Medicine Program at Stanford (CAMPS) is researching aging and identifying factors for successful aging.

Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Center for CAM
http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/rosenthal/
Womens Health, Aging
Columbia University was one of the first centers at a major medical school devoted specifically to research, education and training in complementary and alternative medicine. Their research is directed at women’s health and aging.

The Center for Holistic Pediatric Education and Research
The Center for Holistic Pediatric Education and Research strives to expand scientific knowledge about the safety and effectiveness of complementary therapies and the best ways of integrating these therapies with mainstream medicine through rigorous scientific research.

The Center for the Study of Complementary and Alternative Therapies (CSCAT)
Another NIH-funded center conducting research in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies. The CSCAT fosters research to evaluate the effectiveness, safety and cost of selected CAM therapies used to achieve relief from pain and suffering. The center concept is designed to increase the involvement of creative and highly trained researchers from academia and service areas with complementary providers in areas of scientific and technical interests and relevance to the Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM).

Bastyr University
http://www.bastyr.edu
AIDS/HIV
The center was established in October 1994 under a cooperative grant from NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) and the National Center on Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). Research is aimed at the value of complementary and alternative medicine in the treatment of AIDS.

Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation
http://www.mmrfweb.org
Addictions
When the Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation opened in 1993, the Alternative Medicine Clinic was one of the first in the U.S. to open within a traditional health care organization. Through its post-doctoral fellowship program, it also became the first in the nation to train medical doctors in alternative therapies.
MMRF researchers are studying the effectiveness of treatments such as acupuncture, acupressure, therapeutic massage and herbal therapies for many health concerns.

Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation
http://www.kmrrec.org
Disability and Rehabilitation Research
A treatment approach designed to teach persons with traumatic brain injury and their caregivers ways to implement and sustain home-based behavior management programs.

Center for Alternative Medicine Research for Internal Medicine
Beth Israel Hospital Deaconess Medical Center
Harvard Medical School
Boston MA
Principal Investigator: David M Eisenberg MD

Palmer Center for Chiropractic Research
http://www.palmer.edu/
Chiropractic research
A dynamic site on the frontier of chiropractic research

Other Research Centers in the US not funded by the NIH

Preventive Medicine Research Institute
http://www.pmri.org
Cardiovascular Health
Dean Ornish, M.D. and researchers have demonstrated that the progression of moderate to severe coronary artery disease often can be slowed, stopped, or reversed by a program of comprehensive lifestyle changes, while diminishing utilization of pharmaceuticals.

Geffen Cancer Center and Research Institute
http://www.geffenvisions.com/
Offers state-of-the-art conventional cancer therapies in conjunction with a comprehensive integrative medicine program designed to heal and transform the whole person

The Linus Pauling Institute
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/
The Linus Pauling Institute was established at Oregon State University in August 1996 to determine the function and role of micronutrients, vitamins, and phytochemicals in promoting optimum health and preventing and treating disease.