New Members Appointed to NCCAM Council

On June 21 the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) announced the addition of six new members to the National Advisory Council for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NACCAM). The council serves as the principal advisory body to NCCAM, a component of the National Institutes of Health within the Department of Health and Human Services.

The council, which meets three times a year, is composed of physicians, scientists, licensed complementary and alternative medicine practitioners, and representatives of the public who contribute their time and expertise over a four-year term. Council members offer advice and recommendations on the prioritization, conduct, and support of complementary and alternative medicine research, including research training and disseminating health information derived from NCCAM's research.

The new NCCAM members are:

• Lori Arviso Alvord, M.D., Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, New Hampshire;
• Stephen Barnes, Ph.D., University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama;
• Sheldon Cohen, Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; and Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania;
• Fabio Cominelli, M.D., Ph.D., University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, Virgina;
• Margery L.S. Gass, M.D., University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio; and
• Frank M. Torti, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.P., Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.