July 2, 2003
Alfred P. Fishman, MD, Named to National Committee
for Establishing Policy on Complementary Therapies
National Academy of Sciences to study introduction
of alternative medicines to mainstream research
(Philadelphia, PA) -
Alfred P. Fishman, MD, Professor of Medicine,
Senior Associate Dean for Program Development, and Director
of the Office of Complementary and Alternative Therapies
at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine,
has been appointed to the Institute of Medicine's "Committee
on the Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine
by the American Public." The Committee, a branch of
the National Academy of Sciences, will conduct a one-year
review of how best to identify, study, measure, and
evaluate existing complementary therapies, so that they
can -- if proven effective and not harmful to patients
-- be incorporated into conventional medicine practices.
"It is difficult for physicians to incorporate complementary
therapies into their practices because current methods
for evaluating the effectiveness of complementary medicines
are non-existent or non-standardized," said Fishman.
"With growing numbers of Americans using complementary
therapies, even while not proven, we have a responsibility
to set down some ground rules for evaluating their effectiveness,
because some of them do work and make people feel better."
One commonly used example, acupuncture, has become
an accepted tool for relief of lower back pain and its
use is backed by multiple scientific studies. Herbal
remedies, however, despite their growing use, remain
largely unstudied and unproven. In fact, studying their
effectiveness is problematic because standards do not
exist for measuring herbs. As a result, comparisons
cannot be made between and across different types. For
example, a teaspoon of Echinacea might vary from batch
to batch.
One in four Americans use complementary and alternative
therapies, making over 600 million visits to complementary
therapy practitioners; one in three Americans combine
both complementary and conventional medicine.
Fishman is also Penn's representative to the Consortium
of the Association of Academic Health Centers for Integrative
Medicine. He currently serves as Chair of the Health
Promotion and Disease Prevention Council, Chair of the
Steering Committee on Complementary and Alternative
Medicine and is also on the Board of the Directors of
the Metanexus Institute. Fishman is past-President of
the American Physiology Society and has served on the
editorial boards of nearly a dozen major peer-reviewed,
scientific journals. He is the recipient of the "Gold
Heart Award" from the American Heart Association and
the Trudeau medal from the American Thoracic Society
- their highest awards.
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The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
was founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school.
Today, the School is ranked #4 in the nation in US News
and World Report's most recent ranking of top research-oriented
medical schools; and ranked #2 in nation for receipt
of NIH research funds. Penn's School of Medicine, which
supports 1400 full-time faculty and 700 students, is
recognized worldwide for its superior education and
training of the next generation of physician/scientists
and leaders of academic medicine.
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