The Research Council
for Complementary Medicine

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
10 January 2008
TVU PROFESSOR TO CHAIR RESEARCH COUNCIL FOR COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE

Professor Nicola Robinson, Head of the Centre for Complementary Healthcare and Integrated Medicine at Thames Valley University (TVU), has been appointed as Chair of the Research Council for Complementary Medicine (RCCM).

Professor Robinson takes up the position from Professor Mike Saks, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and Academic Affairs) at the University of Lincoln, who has chaired the charitable group since February 2003.

Nicola will be spearheading the RCCM, that has long championed evidence-based practice in Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). A crucial part of its new strategy involves working closely with government, universities, the public and professional bodies to further the development of CAM nationally and internationally.

Professor Robinson, who is an acupuncturist and also chairs the British Acupuncture Council’s Research Committee, is looking forward to continuing the process of raising the profile of complementary medicine research. As independent chair of the General Naturopathic Council, she is passionate about the need for regulatory standards and has been working with the Prince of Wales Foundation for Integrated Health, which has led on the development of the new Natural Healthcare Council.

“Over the last decade, the teaching of complementary medicine and the critical appraisal of its evidence-base has increasingly moved to universities, leading to higher academic standards and greater transparency,” she said. “This will reflect positively on practitioners, public safety and the credibility of the sector as a whole.”

Nicola is very research active and currently supervising a number PhD students. She was in receipt of a large Kings Fund Award in 2007 as part of their Partners for Health in London programme, investigating the role of complementary and traditional approaches to healthcare in children.

The RCCM has undertaken crucial work on initiatives such as building a sustainable CAM research network in the UK, establishing the NHS National Library for Health, CAM specialist library and conducting major funded projects for the Department of Health, defining the major priorities on the evidence base for CAM.

Mike Saks, working closely with Trustees, has seen the RCCM through a transitional period in which it relocated premises from Devonshire Street to the newly refurbished Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital in Central London.

Professor Saks said: ‘It has been a pleasure to lead the RCCM over the past four and a half years, where there have been very real achievements in continuing to extend the research base for CAM.’

He added: ‘I am sure that Professor Robinson will bring the necessary commitment, energy and expertise to the leadership of the RCCM through its next crucial phase of development, as it enters its twenty-fifth anniversary year.’

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