NCCIH Research Blog

The National Advisory Council for Complementary and Integrative Health (NACCIH) will meet on Friday, January 24, 2025. The NACCIH is charged with advising, consulting with, and making recommendations to the director of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) on matters relating to the Center’s research activities and functions. 

The Open Session of this meeting will offer updates by NCCIH staff on the Center’s activities, policies, and funding priorities. Two outside speakers on topics relevant to the Center are scheduled as well. We welcome our stakeholders, including members of the public, to attend the Open Session, which will be livestreamed on NIH VideoCast from 1 to 4:45 p.m. ET. The recorded video will be posted several days later. Registration is not necessary.

The January 24th Open Session will offer the following presentations, which will then be discussed by Council members:

• Dr. Helene M. Langevin, the NCCIH director, will present news about NCCIH and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in general and about past, present, and future activities with which NCCIH has been/is involved since the Council’s last meeting in September 2024.
• Dr. Helene Benveniste, Anthony N. Brady Professor of Anesthesiology at the Yale School of Medicine, will present the final report of the NACCIH’s Advisory Council Working Group on Spiritual Health. The group has discussed topics including how spiritual practices and spiritual health fit within NCCIH’s model of whole person health; gaps in spirituality research that need to be addressed; and research methods to address those gaps.  
• Dr. Kathleen Sluka, professor of physical therapy and rehabilitation science at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, is a member of the Helping to End Addiction Long-term^® Initiative, or NIH HEAL Initiative^®,  Pain Strategic Research Priorities Working Group and will provide insight on the strategic planning process for the initiative.
• Dr. Kevin McBryde, acting director of the NCCIH Office of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs, will present NCCIH’s triennial report on its funded clinical studies and the representation of gender, race, and minorities among those studies. 
• Program staff from the NCCIH Division of Extramural Research (DER) will present two concepts for the Council’s review, comment, and voting: 1) Complementary and Integrative Health Approaches To Promote Whole Person Health Restoration via Emotional Well-Being Mechanisms and 2) The Role of Hormesis in Whole Person Health. A concept is an early planning stage in the development of a research initiative (a program announcement, request for applications, or request for proposals). 

Procedure for Public Comment

As always, public comment is welcome. All comments must be provided in written form (up to 750 words) and emailed to me by Friday, January 10, in time to be shared with Council members in advance of the meeting. My email address is SchmidMa@mail.nih.gov.

We hope that you will join us during the open session of the meeting!

For More Information

• View the agenda for the January 24, 2025, Advisory Council meeting
• Learn more about the NCCIH Advisory Council Working Group on Spiritual Health