Cochrane Complementary Medicine collaborates with researchers at multiple institutions around the world. We are fortunate to have close collaborations with several groups of accomplished collaborators that form international 'nodes' or 'satellites' to the main Cochrane Complementary Medicine base in the USA. Each of the groups and their core activities are described below.
Cochrane Complementary Medicine China
Cochrane Complementary Medicine China is based at the Centre for Evidence-Based Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. The Centre promotes evidence-based Chinese medicine research and practice, and seeks to develop research capacity in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Centre faculty and students have completed multiple Cochrane systematic reviews on TCM therapies including herbal medicine and acupuncture for different conditions and have a wide range of Cochrane and non-Cochrane international research collaborations.
In addition to work on systematic reviews and review methodology, the Centre collaborates with the Cochrane Complementary Medicine Field at the University of Maryland to ensure that citations to Chinese randomized controlled trials of TCM are available to international researchers searching the Cochrane Library Cochrane Controlled Register of Trials (CENTRAL) for trials to include in systematic reviews. The Centre systematically searches Chinese medical journals and Chinese biomedical databases to identify records of controlled trials of TCM therapies. The citations and abstracts for these records are translated from Chinese into English, English keywords are added, and the records are then added to the Cochrane Complementary Medicine Field database of controlled clinical trials of complementary therapies, which is incorporated into CENTRAL and published online in the Cochrane Library (cochranelibrary.com). To date, the Centre has contributed over 15,000 records to CENTRAL.
Contact information: Prof. Jian Ping Liu (liujp@bucm.edu.cn; http://jichu.bucm.edu.cn/jxkyjg/lclxbxyyxtjxjys/index.htm)
Cochrane Complementary Medicine Korea
Cochrane Complementary Medicine Korea is based at the Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine (KIOM)(https://www.kiom.re.kr/eng/), in Daejeon, Korea. KIOM is a unique Korean government-funded institute for the development and promotion of the evidence base for traditional Korean medicine and is a World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Traditional Medicine. Cochrane Complementary Medicine Korea consists of the evidence-based medicine (EBM) researchers of KIOM, Pusan National University, Kyung Hee University and the entire Korean medicine EBM Network.
Cochrane Complementary Medicine Korea has completed many Cochrane and non-Cochrane systematic reviews on acupuncture, herbal medicine, and other CAM therapies for a wide range of medical conditions. We have networks with the local Korean Cochrane Centre (Cochrane Korea) and also the regional Centre (Cochrane Australia). While our work is primarily related to complementary medicine, we also support and work with local and regional Cochrane entities to increase the impact of Cochrane for relevant local stakeholders (patients, clinicians, policymakers, and academics).
Our primary activities for Cochrane are the translation of Cochrane reviews (mainly for plain language summaries), the contribution of controlled trials of Korean medicine to the Cochrane Library Cochrane Controlled Register of Trials (CENTRAL), the dissemination of evidence from Cochrane reviews through newspaper articles and social media, and the conduct of regular local training workshops for writing systematic reviews. We have conducted empirical researches that can contribute to Cochrane-related activities including, but not limited to, research methodology, implementation strategy and the educational application of high-quality clinical evidence in complementary medicine.
Contact information: Prof. Myeong Soo Lee (drmslee@gmail.com or mslee@kiom.re.kr)
Cochrane Complementary Medicine Switzerland
Cochrane Complementary Medicine Switzerland is based at the Institute for Complementary and Integrative Medicine, University Hospital Zurich and University Zurich, Switzerland. The Institute combines healing traditions with modern technology and carries out interconnected activities in research, teaching, and patient care. The Institute specializes in chronic medical conditions such as cancer or chronic pain, and focus on a biopsychosocial approach to preventing, treating and managing health problems. The Institute has experience in Cochrane systematic reviews and other meta-analytic investigations, and welcomes international collaborations.
Current research at the Institute is focused on patient-reported outcomes in studies with non-pharmacological complex interventions in the field of complementary and integrative medicine, with a particular interest in identifying moderators that influence treatment outcomes. These moderators might include patient and therapist characteristics, the interaction of these characteristics, and the treatment setting. Institute researchers are working to develop indicators which serve as proxies for these moderators to get a better understanding of contextual factors that contribute to treatments in a non-specific way. We are particularly interested in treatment outcomes expectations and new treatment settings (i.e. eHealth). We are happy to share our experience about these moderators in order to generate a broad database across interventions, patients and countries, with the goal of developing an evidence base to inform future clinical studies and patient care.
Contact information: Dr. Jürgen Barth (juergen.barth@usz.ch) and Prof. Claudia M. Witt (claudia.witt@uzh.ch)