JRSM > Volume 98, Number 1 > Pp. 44

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Letters

Research funding in complementary medicine

Bo-Ying Ma

Xinglin Postgraduate College of Chinese Medicine (UK), London, UK

E-mail: collegexpct{at}tiscali.co.uk

Professor Ernst (October 2004 JRSM¹) believes the UK Department of Health to be misguided in funding isolated postdoctorate fellowships in complementary medicine rather than 'centres of excellence' such as his own in Exeter. In my opinion, individual funding is the better route for people who wish to do practical research. The meta-analyses that represent a large part of the output of the Exeter centre certainly need to be done, but in many instances such studies ought to be conducted as preliminaries to new work in the laboratory or clinic. Professor Ernst's centre has also reported randomized trials, but there are dangers in conducting these from a centre dealing with 'complementary' techniques in general rather than in particular. Sometimes these have come under severe criticism from complementary practitioners. From my specialist knowledge of acupuncture, I have expressed grave doubts about the design and conclusions from one of the trials published from the Exeter unit.² In terms of quality, the Department of Health may have chosen the best course.

REFERENCES

1. Ernst E. Research capacity in complementary medicine. J R Soc Med 2004;97:504 -5[Free Full Text]

2. Chen HY, Ma BY, Grant A. Research funds for complementary medicine. Lancet2001; 357:1982

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This Article Full Text (PDF) Send a Quick Comment Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when Quick Comments are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Ma, B.-Y. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Social Bookmarking                      What's this?