The Cochrane Collaboration is an international, nonprofit, and independent organization dedicated to improving health care for the world's population by preparing, maintaining and promoting the accessibility of systematic reviews. The CAM Field is the designated group within the Cochrane Collaboration focused on facilitating the conduct of Cochrane systematic reviews of complementary and alternative medicine therapies. The CAM Field is based within and sponsored by the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Maryland, as it has been since inception in 1996, under the leadership of Brian Berman, co- founder and Convener of the CAM Field. Over the past four years the CAM Field has been supported through an R24 grant from NCCAM. The CAM Field has used the R24 funding to significantly further the priorities and goals of NCCAM by coordinating the preparation of high quality systematic reviews of CAM, improving research methods for CAM systematic review conduct, developing a specialized database of CAM RCTs, and widely disseminating information about systematic reviews, evidence-based CAM, and the Cochrane Collaboration, to CAM researchers, practitioners, the lay public, and policy-makers. However, many questions still remain to be answered regarding the effectiveness and safety of CAM therapies and much remains to be accomplished in the rigorous collection, evaluation, and dissemination of high quality information in CAM. To expand the CAM Field as a resource for research, the following four specific aims have been developed for this proposed renewal of our R24 funding: 1) Increase the number of high quality systematic reviews in CAM;2) Increase promotion of the Cochrane CAM Field;3) Improve and increase the database of randomized controlled trials of CAM interventions;and 4) Ensure effective and efficient communication between CAM Field members and members of other entities within the Cochrane Collaboration. As interest in and utilization of CAM therapies is only increasing in the US and worldwide, systematic reviews will continue to be essential to clinicians and patients as they seek to make informed, evidence-based health care decisions. Since its inception, the CAM Field has conducted valuable research related to systematic reviews, has served as a research resource for the worldwide medical community, and has served an important administrative role within the international Cochrane Collaboration. The productivity of the CAM Field will only increase in the coming years, due to the research infrastructure and worldwide network developed within it over the previous four years.
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