News Release

Thursday, October 5, 2006

NCCAM and The Bernard Osher Foundation Announce New Career Development Award

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) today announced a prestigious career development award designed to diminish the barriers that prevent complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) clinicians from exploring a career in research. NCCAM, a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), created this award in partnership with The Bernard Osher Foundation through a grant to the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health.

“We are extremely pleased to have this opportunity to join forces with The Osher Foundation in addressing one of NCCAM’s primary goals — creating a cadre of well-trained CAM researchers,” said Dr. Margaret A. Chesney, Acting Director of NCCAM. “This program provides yet another mechanism through which the Center can collaborate with the CAM community to foster the next generation of leaders in this field.”

The Bernard Osher Foundation/NCCAM CAM Practitioner Research Career Development Award will promote the science of complementary and alternative medicine through research training and mentorship. The award is for individual CAM practitioners with clinical CAM doctorates who have had limited opportunities for research training, but who have a strong desire to pursue a career in CAM research.

Awardees will receive up to 5 years of intensive, supervised career development research training in the biomedical, behavioral, or clinical sciences related to CAM. Applicants should hold a health professional doctoral degree from a CAM institution, such as Doctor of Chiropractic (D.C.), Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine (N.D.), or Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (D.A.O.M.), as well as Doctors of Osteopathy (D.O.) from medical institutions that teach manual manipulation as part of the core curriculum.

The Bernard Osher Foundation, which is based in San Francisco, supports three integrative medicine research centers at the University of California, San Francisco, Harvard University, and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. “Because of our high regard for Dr. Stephen E. Straus, the founding director of NCCAM, we are particularly pleased to promote the future of integrative medicine research through this new award,” said Bernard Osher, founder and treasurer of the Osher Foundation.

Interested parties should visit www.nccam.nih.gov/training for more information about the award.

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine’s mission is to explore complementary and alternative medical practices in the context of rigorous science, train CAM researchers, and disseminate authoritative information to the public and professionals. For additional information, call NCCAM’s Clearinghouse toll free at 1-888-644-6226, or visit www.nccam.nih.gov.

More information about The Bernard Osher Foundation is available here: http://www.osherfoundation.org/

The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health was established by the United States Congress to support the mission of the National Institutes of Health—improving health through scientific discovery. The Foundation identifies and develops opportunities for innovative public-private partnerships involving industry, academia, and the philanthropic community. A nonprofit, 501(c)(3) corporation, the Foundation raises private-sector funds for a broad portfolio of unique programs that complement and enhance NIH priorities and activities. The Foundation’s web site is www.fnih.org.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health®

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