View full article | Researching complementary medicine – ‘mission impossible’

Abstract 

Our unit was created 10 years ago with the remit to conduct rigorous research into complementary medicine. As straightforward as this task may seem, it turned out to be not a small order indeed. First, complementary medicine is a huge and highly diverse area (Table 1). Second, applying science to it is fraught with logistical obstacles, methodological problems and ‘ideological’ complications. At the time, there was little agreement other than one: the task was both timely and important. The general population was (and is) in the middle of a romance with all things alternative, and no university chair did (or does) exist in the UK to carry out this ‘mission impossible’.

E Ernst* MD PhD FRCP FRCPEd

*Complementary Medicine
Peninsula Medical School
Universities of Exeter & Plymouth
25 Victoria Park Road
Exeter EX2 4NT UK

Email: Edzard.Ernst@pms.ac.uk

Tel: +44 (0)1392 424989

Fax: +44 (0)1392 427562