NCCIH Research Blog

On Friday, October 6, the National Advisory Council for Complementary and Integrative Health (NACCIH) will hold its first meeting of Fiscal Year 2018. NCCIH grantees and potential applicants may find it useful to hear updates on the Center’s activities and presentations by staff about future funding priorities. We will provide a livestream of the meeting’s open session via NIH Videocast from 9:45 a.m. to 3:05 p.m. ET.

Our agenda includes a presentation by Dr. Josephine Briggs, who steps down this month as Director of NCCIH. On January 1, 2018, Dr. Briggs will become editor-in-chief of the Journal of American Society of Nephrology (JASN), considered the leading specialty journal in nephrology. At the Council meeting, she will offer her perspective on the Center’s accomplishments during her nine-year directorship.

In addition to Dr. Briggs’s talk, we will host a panel on “The National Pain Strategy and Federal Pain Research Strategy―Response to the Prescription Opioid Epidemic” featuring:

• “NIH: The Status of NIH’s Efforts To Address the Opioid Crisis,” by Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., NIH Director;
• “CDC: Guidelines for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain,” Christina Mikosz, M.D., M.P.H., Medical Officer, Prescription Drug Overdose Health Systems Team, Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;
• “FDA: Opioid Analgesic REMS: Blueprint for Health Care Professional Training,” by Theresa Toigo, M.B.A., R.Ph. Associate Director, Drug Safety Operations, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration; and
• “NCCIH’s Activities and Plans Related to the Opioid Epidemic,” David Shurtleff, Ph.D., Acting Director, NCCIH.

The NACCIH meets three times per year and is charged with advising, consulting with, and making recommendations to the Center Director on matters relating to NCCIH’s research activities and functions. In closed sessions, it provides secondary review of grant applications with respect to NCCIH research priorities and program balance.

We welcome you to attend the upcoming NACCIH open session either in person here in Bethesda, Maryland or via NIH Videocast. You are also welcome to review past meeting minutes.

• View the October 6, 2017 Council agenda.