Director’s Messages

Can We Live Healthier and Spend Better on Health Care?

January 6, 2025

In December 2024, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) celebrated the close of its 25th year with a special anniversary celebration and a remarkable program focused on the economics and imperatives of whole person health. As becomes alarmingly clearer with each passing year, the U.S. population is becoming less healthy, despite spending disproportionately more on health care compared to other industrialized nations.  Read more

Coalition Kickoff for Whole Person Health

December 20, 2024

The inaugural stakeholder meeting of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) Coalition for Whole Person Health took place at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Natcher Center on November 1, 2024. NCCIH hosted this first meeting of the Coalition, which was attended by representatives from 60 member organizations with an interest in whole person health. My colleagues and I provided an overview of our work at NCCIH focused on whole person health and our collaborations across NIH, including with the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, and with other Federal agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). We shared updates on our efforts to strengthen the research infrastructure for whole person health through different initiatives, including applications currently being reviewed for a funding opportunity on whole person research and the Research Across Complementary and Integrative Health (REACH) Institutions Virtual Resource Centers. I appreciated the opportunity to explore why advancing whole person health is so important right now and how doing so will help us understand how our bodies and minds respond to stressors or challenges to our health. Read more

BRAIN at 10: A View from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health

November 1, 2024

This blog was originally posted on The BRAIN Blog.The BRAIN Initiative is marking a milestone—10 years of advancing neuroscience and neurotechnology research by funding innovative projects. Read more

Expanding the Horizon in Pain Research

October 29, 2024

Research on pain is a top priority for the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), reflecting our extensive efforts and broad interdisciplinary collaborations within the National Institutes of Health (NIH), catalyzed by the Helping to End Addiction Long-term® Initiative, or NIH HEAL Initiative®. I’m proud to be part of a scientific community dedicated to finding answers for those who struggle with chronic pain, though much work remains.In a recent article published in Pain, I highlight two critical and related research gaps that, if filled, could significantly advance our understanding and management of pain. The first gap is our limited understanding of pain mechanisms connecting the nervous system and the rest of the body. Read more