Mission

• To foster interdisciplinary and interprofessional research collaboration among faculty and predoctoral trainees and postdoctoral fellows, and

• To promote information exchange through journal club, seminars, workshops, presentations, and publications.

In carrying out its overall mission of evaluation of CAM, CSCAT collaborators, faculty members, and staff:

• conduct a program of research testing the effects of selected mind-body interventions, energy therapies, body-based methods, and biologically-based therapies

• recruit and screen pre- and postdoctoral trainees interested in CAM research training and in conducting scholarly CAM-related studies

• create linkages and collaboration with other researchers to support the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine's (NCCAM) goal of scientifically and programmatically evaluating the efficacy, effectiveness, safety, and cost of CAM; and

• seek financial awards from private foundations, industries, individual donors, and National Institutes of Health to fund CSCAT research projects.

CSCAT Research Themes

Clinical:

• Symptom management in a number of different patient populations to enhance health-related quality of life using non-pharmacological interventions (including mind-body therapies, such as guided imagery, yoga, and meditation)
• Chronic disease prevention through promotion of health lifestyle using mind-body therapies and dietary interventions
• Comparative effectiveness and cost analysis of non-pharmacological therapies and conventional care using secondary data analyses of nationally representative samples 

Laboratory:

• Neural processes and functions; sick role behaviors
• Mechanisms underlying selected CAM modalities, including yoga and manual therapies