Summer 2006, Vol. 1 Issue 2

Conference Jump Starts a New Era of Collaboration in Traditional Chinese Medicine Research

The National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine (OCCAM) hosted an ambitious conference titled 'Traditional Chinese Medicine and Cancer Research: Fostering Collaborations; Advancing the Science,' held April 10 through 12 at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) campus. This endeavor took six months of planning and was prompted by multiple meetings with the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences (CACMS), a national center for TCM research, teaching, and health care in China.

Almost 200 scientists and physicians attended the conference, including more than 40 who traveled from China to participate. While the conference included posters and presentations like a standard biomedical gathering, its main purpose was to serve as an incubator for establishing new collaborative relationships between Chinese and Western scientists interested in researching Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for cancer prevention, treatment, and palliation. “This meeting is about getting to know each other,” said Dr. Jeffrey D. White, Director of OCCAM, on the first day of the conference. “Hopefully, we have structured it in a way to allow people to meet each other and learn from each other, and we want to encourage that as much as possible.” A primary goal of the meeting was to provide an opportunity for NCI intramural researchers to explore specific topics that could be the subject of collaborations with Chinese investigators. Read more…

NCI CAM News is produced by the Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine (OCCAM). The Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine (OCCAM) was established in October 1998 to coordinate and support the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) activities related to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). OCCAM also serves as a focal point for NCI’s collaboration with other governmental and non-governmental organizations on cancer CAM issues.

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