Complementary Medicine Research Unit

Abstract

One in ten of the UK population use complementary medicine each year and 50% are lifetime users. The recent House of Lords’ Report has clearly defined a public need for further research into both safety and efficacy. The Department of Health research capacity building initiative is one of the first main responses to the Select Committee’s recommendations. We know that within this emerging field we have developed a unit with cooperative ventures within the university, both intra-faculty and inter-faculty. As a consequence, we have been able to draw in major funding along with a growing body of academic publications. Our unit was established by George Lewith in 1995 with his appointment as Honorary Visiting Senior Lecturer. He now has a University contract as a Reader within the Department of Primary Care where the unit is located. The unit was initially provided with core funding by the Maurice Laing Foundation and has been able to generate substantial amounts of soft money funding for a number of minor and major projects from charitable (including Wellcome) sources as well as National Health Service Research and Development (NHS R&D) funding. Laing funding continues to provide our unit with an administrative core. Dr Lewith has been appointed as a Visiting Professor to the School of Integrated Health at the University of Westminster. The Department of Health is now providing funds for research capacity building within complementary medicine and we have been successful in obtaining Department of Health support for two post-doctoral fellows (Peter White and Sarah Brien) and two PhD students during the first 2 years of the awards. The Department of Health is also funding complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) projects within palliative cancer care (£300 000) and we have successfully applied for this funding, in conjunction with Jessica Corner as the primary investigator. Wellcome is currently funding 37% of the applications it puts out for review in the field of CAM and is considering further initiatives in the light of the Department of Health proposals. The Medical Research Council has publicly stated that it welcomes quality applications in this area: our initial asthma and homeopathy study was alpha rated, the Alexander Technique study was alpha– alpha rated and funded. There is clearly now an opportunity for substantial growth in this area of research and the track record that we have developed in Southampton makes us well placed to capitalize on these initiatives. Over the last 8 years we have created a unique multidisciplinary team (non-clinical post-docs, doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, pharmacists and health psychologists) in Southampton, which has developed considerable skill in primary clinical research within CAM. These studies have been directed at asking not only where complementary therapies may be most applicable but also whether and how they work. Furthermore, our research has led us to understand that the nature and content of the therapeutic relationship within complementary medicine is of paramount importance, and therefore we are in the process of developing clinical trial methodology that will allow us to look at the consultation independently from a particular therapeutic intervention, focusing particularly on the non-specific effects of homeopathy and acupuncture in chronic disease. The major studies in which our unit has been involved to date are as follows: