Arizona Complementary and Alternative Medicine Research Training Program

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overarching goal of this competing continuation NIH/NCCAM T32 application for the Arizona Complementary and Alternative Medicine Research Training Program (ACAMRTP, PI Iris R. Bell, MD PhD) is to prepare qualified fellows to perform rigorous and innovative research on whole systems of CAM within the setting of an interdisciplinary Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM) at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. Successful ACAMRTP fellows will proceed into productive and successful academic careers that will contribute to evaluating the effectiveness, safety, impact, and societal mechanisms of widely-used whole systems of CAM, e.g., traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), homeopathy, naturopathy, indigenous healing traditions, and contemporary integrative medicine. This emphasis is consistent with stated goal of NCCAM's Five-Year Strategic Plan to support whole systems research (WSR). To achieve the overarching goal, current specific aims are: 1. To identify and recruit qualified applicants as fellows, drawn from a range of primary disciplines that are relevant to a whole systems of CAM approach, including primary care medicine, anthropology, nursing, psychology, and CAM disciplines. 2. To offer a structured and directed training program that will include clear primary and secondary scientific and academic goals, regular constructive interactions with core DFCM faculty mentors and affiliate mentoring faculty with funded CAM research interests throughout the University of Arizona, thoughtful scientific criticism of the work of the fellows, support for professional presentations and submission of results for publication, and practical preparation in grant-writing, project development, and project implementation skills for career success. 3. To ground fellows in a interdisciplinary WSR approach, through formal coursework and seminar series, conferences, interactions with scientific mentors, and research projects that are integrated into a comprehensive program. This work builds upon existing collaborative relationships of T32 core faculty members with the Program in Integrative Medicine and other academic units at the University as well as the network of extramural collaborators at CAM-oriented doctoral institutions who will refer potential trainees for admission. The current proposal reflects several enhancements from an administrative, academic, and curricular perspective that emerged from experience in the first five years of implementing this T32 program.