Call for Research Proposals

Three federal health-care organizations are calling for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) research proposals, in order to strengthen the CAM research knowledge base. The invitation is open to any individual or organization involved in CAM or Western medicine.

The organizations participating in this project are The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) at the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, and the Office of Dietary Supplements.

CAM comprises those therapies usually performed outside the traditional Western medical model, and includes massage therapy, chiropractic, acupuncture and herbs.

“More basic, mechanistic and preclinical research is needed across the broad spectrum of biomedical science underlying CAM practices,” states a recent NCCAM announcement.

The NCCAM groups CAM practices into four major domains: mind-body medicine; biologically based practices; manipulative and body-based practices; and energy medicine.

Within those domains lie NCCAM’s research areas of special interest: anxiety and depression; cardiovascular diseases; ethnomedicine; immune modulation/enhancement; inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome; insomnia; liver; obesity/metabolic syndrome; and respiratory diseases.

Eligible organizations include: for-profit and nonprofit organizations; public or private institutions; units of state; units of local governments; eligible agencies of the federal government; foreign institutions; domestic institutions; faith-based or community-based organizations; and Indian/Native American tribal governments.

Eligible principal investigators include any individual with the skills, knowledge and resources necessary to carry out the proposed research. Individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups as well as individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply for NIH support.

Applicants may submit more than one application, provided they are scientifically distinct. The total amount awarded and the number of awards will depend upon the numbers, quality, duration and costs of the applications received.

The PHS 398 application instructions are available at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/phs398.html in an interactive format. Applicants must use the currently approved version of the PHS 398. For more information, call (301) 435-0714 (hearing impaired, dial hearing impaired: TTY 301-451-0088), or email grantsinfo@nih.gov.