NCCIH Research Blog

On Friday, January 21, 2022, the National Advisory Council for Complementary and Integrative Health (NACCIH) will hold an online-only meeting. If you are a National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) grantee, potential grant applicant, member of the public, or other stakeholder, we invite you to attend the Open Session.

The livestream will take place from 11:40 a.m. to 4:20 p.m. ET on NIH VideoCast, where it will also be archived. Registration is not necessary. The agenda is posted on NCCIH’s website. NACCIH Open Sessions offer news and updates on NCCIH’s activities, policies, and funding priorities, and often include a guest speaker.

The NACCIH 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 in light of NCCIH research priorities and program balance.

On January 21, the Open Session will begin with the report of NCCIH Director Helene M. Langevin, M.D., on Center-related news, plans, and activities since the previous meeting on September 10, 2021. Additional presentations are as follows:

• Emmeline Edwards, Ph.D., Director of the NCCIH Division of Extramural Research, will provide an update on funding opportunity announcements for pain research in which NCCIH is the leader or a participant. As noted in our strategic plan, pain management is a key focus of the Center’s research efforts.
• Lindsay A. Criswell, M.D., M.P.H., D.Sc., Director of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will present on her Institute’s research portfolio on musculoskeletal pain. NIAMS seeks to advance health through biomedical and behavioral research, as well as through research training and dissemination of information on research progress in arthritis and musculoskeletal and skin diseases.
• Dr. Langevin will speak on the Restoring Joint Health and Function to Reduce Pain (RE-JOIN) initiative, a new program within the Helping to End Addiction Long-term^® Initiative, or NIH HEAL Initiative^®. The goal of RE-JOIN is to define the innervation of the different articular and periarticular tissues that collectively form the joint—e.g., bone, cartilage, synovium, joint capsule, ligament, tendon, fascia, and muscle—by sensory neurons that mediate the sensation of pain. This knowledge will support identification of key receptors and mediators that induce pain by activating specific sensory neurons, and this may eventually lead to novel targets for reducing pain.
• Robin Boineau, M.D., is the new director of NCCIH’s Office of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs and the office’s medical officer. Dr. Boineau will present the Center’s triennial report on NCCIH-funded clinical studies and their inclusion of gender, racial, and minority populations among study participants. 
• Craig Hopp, Ph.D., deputy director of the NCCIH Division of Extramural Research, will present a concept on emergency funding for high-priority pain research for the council members to discuss and clear.

The Open Session usually closes with a public comment period. Because this meeting will be entirely virtual, public comments will be accepted in writing only, based on NIH policy. NCCIH will accept public comments (up to 750 words) for 15 days after the meeting; please email them to khalsap@mail.nih.gov by Saturday, February 5. All written public comments are shared with the Council members. 

We hope you’ll consider joining us for all or part of the Open Session.

• View the January 21, 2022, Council agenda.
• Join the Open Session via NIH VideoCast.