Training in Complementary and Alternative Medical Research

描述(由申请人提供)：患者对广泛的补充和替代医学(CAM)疗法的使用率处于该国近代史上的最高水平，而且还在继续增加。然而，缺乏足够的研究提供准确的信息来阐明和验证CAM疗法的有效性、经济性和安全性。一个成功的医疗系统为患者和医生提供了从尽可能大的治疗性和预防性保健方案中进行选择的能力，这些方案已被证明在医学上有效且具有成本效益。为了继续向这样一个系统迈进，至关重要的是对CAM治疗方案的全套进行科学验证。这将以最快和最有效的方式进行，由经过严格研究方法和CAM培训的科学家进行跨学科和协作的研究工作。美国领先的CAM培训机构Bastyr大学正在提交这份竞争性的继续培训申请，以继续我们成功的博士后和博士后培训计划，培训对象是希望在CAM领域作为研究学者和临床研究人员的科学家。在过去的3年里，Bastyr的这一培训计划成功地促进了CAM和对抗性机构的研究人员和联合健康专业人员之间的多学科合作，并在CAM相关研究方面培训了8名博士后研究员和18名短期博士后实习生。我们目前建议将这一成功的计划再延长5年，以再培训8名博士后研究员(4名ND、2名博士和2名MD)，每名为期3年，并在短期暑期职位培训30名博士前学生。培训机会来自华盛顿州的19名教职员工，他们代表着华盛顿州四家著名的研究和教育机构。我们汇集了在各自领域拥有公认专业知识的导师，他们的背景差异足以提供广泛的培训经验，并对CAM在治疗慢性疾病，特别是癌症、肥胖症和2型糖尿病方面的疗效有共同的兴趣。我们相信，在西雅图最好的研究环境下，这些人的专业知识和承诺的结合将创造一个独特的机会，成功地培训能够将传统研究方法应用于与CAM相关的研究课题的科学家。通过将CAM研究培训集中在一个机构，该机构的使命是培训CAM从业者和研究人员，并加强与主流生物医学研究机构的合作，这一应用程序满足了建设资源和基础设施的关键和战略需求，以允许对CAM模式进行尖端研究。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Patient utilization of a broad spectrum of Complementary and Alternative Medical (CAM) therapies is at the highest level in the recent history of this country and continues to increase. However, there is a lack of adequate research providing accurate information to illuminate and validate the efficacy, economy, and safety of CAM therapies. A successful medical system provides patients and physicians with the ability to choose from the largest possible armamentarium of therapeutic and preventative health care regimens that have been proven to be both medically efficacious and cost effective. To continue to move toward such a system, it is vitally important that the panoply of CAM therapeutic regimens be validated scientifically. This will proceed most quickly and efficiently with an interdisciplinary and collaborative research effort carried out by scientists trained both in both rigorous research methodology and in CAM. Bastyr University, the nation's leading CAM training institution, is submitting this competing continuation application to continue our successful postdoctoral and predoctoral training program for scientists who desire careers as research scholars and clinical investigators in the field of CAM. Over the past 3 years, this training program at Bastyr has resulted in the successful development of multi-disciplinary collaborations among researchers and allied health professionals at CAM and allopathic institutions, and has trained 8 postdoctoral fellows and 18 short-term predoctoral trainees in CAM-related research. We currently propose to extend this successful program for another 5 years to train an additional 8 postdoctoral fellows (4 ND, 2 PhD and 2 MD) for three years each, and thirty predoctoral students in short term summer positions. Training opportunities are available from 19 faculty members, representing four preeminent research and educational institutions in Washington state. We have assembled mentors with acknowledged expertise in their fields, with divergent enough backgrounds to provide a breadth of training experiences, and with a common interest in the efficacy of CAM in the treatment of chronic disease, particularly cancer, obesity and Type 2 diabetes. We believe that the combined expertise and commitment of these individuals, in the context of the superlative research environment in Seattle, creates a unique opportunity to successfully train scientists who will be able to bring traditional research methods to bear upon CAM-related research topics. By centering CAM research training at an institution with a mission of training CAM practitioners and researchers and enhancing collaborations with mainstream biomedical research institutions, this application addresses a critical and strategic need of building resources and infrastructure to allow for cutting-edge research on CAM modalities.