PRESS RELEASES

Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use by One Third of U.S. Adults is Unchanged from 1997.
January 5, 2005 In a comparison of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use by adults in 1997 and 2002, researchers from Harvard Medical School found more than one in three U.S. adults (36.5 and 35.0 percent, respectively) used at least one form of CAM. The continued widespread use of individual and multiple CAM therapies underscores the need to regorously evaluate the safety, efficacy, and cost-effectiveness of these approaches. [Read the press release]

Researchers Find High Levels of Potentially Toxic Heavy Metals in Herbal Medicine Products
December 14, 2004 One of five Ayurvedic herbal medical products (HMPs) produced in South Asia and available in Boston area stores contains potentially harmful levels of lead, mercury, and/or arsenic, according to a study led by Robert Saper, currently with the Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) Department of Family Medicine and a former research fellow at the Harvard Medical School (HMS) Osher Research Center and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. "This study, yet again, highlights the need for Congress to revisit the way dietary supplements are regulated in the U.S.," said co-author David Eisenberg, the Bernard Osher Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of the HMS Division of Research and Education in Complementary and Integrative Medical Therapies. "Our first priority must be the safety of the public." [Read the press release]

Harvard Medical School Osher Research Center Joins with Goldman Philanthropic Partnerships To Fund Innovative Research Projects
June 30, 2003 The Harvard Medical School Osher Research Center and Division for Research and Education in Complementary and Integrative Medical Therapies (HMS) have joined forces with the Chicago-based Goldman Philanthropic Partnerships (GPP) to create matching grants for pilot studies involving complementary and integrative medical therapies that may treat and cure disease. The Harvard Medical School Osher Research Center and Division were established to facilitate interdisciplinary and inter-institutional faculty collaborations for evaluation of complementary and integrative therapies. [Read the press release]

Study Indicates Alternative Medicine Here to Stay
A new study by Harvard Medical School researchers, looking at trends over the past half-century, suggests that complementary and alternative medicine is here to stay for the foreseeable future. The study, which appears in the August 21 Annals of Internal Medicine, examined trends in the use of 20 different CAMs, covering everything from acupuncture to yoga, among representative sociodemographic groups across the continental U.S. "The findings really dispel two ideas, namely that complementary and alternative medicine is just a passing fad, and that it is used by one particular segment of society," said Ronald Kessler, Harvard Medical School professor of health care policy, who authored the study through the Harvard Medical School Division of Research and Education in Complementary and Integrative Medical Therapies and the Center for Alternative Medicine Research and Education at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The use of alternative treatments was independent of gender, ethnicity, and level of education. Regional trends and city versus rural differences were also absent. Most of the 20 therapies have steadily increased in popularity since the 1960s, with the largest overall growth rate occurring during the transition from the 1960s to the 1970s. [Read the press release]

$10 Million Gift Supports Division for Research and Education In Complementary and Integrative Medical Therapies
April 30, 2001 Harvard Medical School received a $10 million gift from the Bernard Osher Foundation of San Francisco to support its recently established Division for Research and Education in Complementary and Integrative Medical Therapies. The gift will also establish the Harvard Medical School-Osher Research Center for Research and Education in Complementary and Integrative Medical Therapies. The missions of both the division and new research center are to facilitate interdisciplinary and interinstitutional faculty collaboration to evaluate rigorously complementary and integrative medical treatments. The division will concentrate on assessing the safety, efficacy, cost-effectiveness, and mechanisms of action of these approaches. Appropriate educational activities and policies pertaining to the clinical delivery of complementary medical therapies will also be developed. [Read the press release]

HMS Launches Division to Study Complementary Medicine
July 11, 2000 In a move that taps its faculty's depth and breadth of expertise to expand academic inquiry into complementary medicine, Harvard Medical School has established the Division for Research and Education in Complementary and Integrative Medical Therapies. David M. Eisenberg, M.D., director of the Center for Alternative Medicine Research and Education at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and associate professor of medicine at HMS, has been appointed director of the new division. [Read the press release]