Work is well underway in refining complementary medicine research priorities. One of the Institute's roles is to articulate national priorities in basic and translational research, and in its first year of operation, NICM developed overarching research priorities, informed by national stakeholder consultations.

The priorities are research that:

• Has the potential to impact positively on the health and wellbeing of all Australians. Emphasis to areas of high burden of disease where preliminary evidence is strong & demonstrates likelihood of positive impact.
• Elucidates safety, efficacy & cost effectiveness of CM and translates this into policy and practice.
• Investigates methodological issues relevant to the complex nature of CM, including development of methodological tools which may impact on our understanding of the whole practice, concepts & mechanisms underpinning CM.

Going forward, these higher level priorities need to be translated into a workable plan that will help better concentrate research effort both within the NICM centres and across the field more generally. 

On advice from its Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC), NICM developed a process to help develop the priorities. The NICM Collaborative Centres' national network meeting held on 9 October 2008 was used to further develop research priorities with input from approximately 50 mixed background researchers. 

A worksheet was developed to facilitate discussion at the forum and preliminary work was commissioned to complete as much of the worksheet as possible in the areas of cancer; cardiovascular disease; diabetes; neurological disorders (dementias) and wellness promotion. NICM intends to commission further help in the priority areas of mental health (affective disorders) and musculoskeletal/pain.

Chinese medicine priorities were discussed further with Chinese scientists in Beijing on 6 November 2008 with the support of the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences.

As part of its research priorities development process, NICM sought input from a range of stakeholders through a research priorities survey in the first half of 2009.   The results of this work will be available by the end of this year.  

 Content Updated October 2009