Director's Message from Helene M. Langevin, M.D. 
July 23, 2024

I recently had the pleasure of joining a lively discussion on the StarTalk podcast, hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson alongside Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly. We covered so much ground—from complementary medicine and health trends to discussing inflammation, acupuncture, vitamins, and whether there is a right “dose” of stretching. It was not only informative but also a lot of fun—we laughed our way through some serious science.

 

Jennifer Baumgartner, Ph.D.
July 22, 2024

Student loan debt is a common barrier for health professionals starting and sustaining a biomedical or biobehavioral research career. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Loan Repayment Programs (LRPs) are a set of programs established by Congress that aim to address this known barrier. 

Did you know that NIH may repay up to $100,000 of your qualified student loan debt over 2 years, including most undergraduate, graduate, and medical school loans? The goal of these potentially life-changing programs is to recruit and retain highly qualified health professionals in biomedical or biobehavioral research careers by lessening the burden of student loans. This NIH program will benefit those committed to a career in biomedical research. 

 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently investigating an outbreak of illnesses linked to Diamond Shruumz-brand chocolate bars, cones, and gummies marketed as containing a proprietary blend of mushroom. As of July 15, 2024, there have been 69 reported cases across 28 states, resulting in 36 hospitalizations and one potential death since June 2024. Symptoms include seizures, confusion, abnormal heart rates, and nausea. The exact cause of these illnesses is still under investigation.

 

NCCIH, along with 14 other Institutes, Centers, and Offices at NIH, is seeking applications to establish a Whole Person Research and Coordination Center (Whole Person RCC) that will provide the necessary infrastructure to help researchers explore how our bodies’ different systems interact with one another. We will host two webinars for interested applicants.

• Technical Assistance Webinar July 30, 2024  11:30 a.m.–12:45 p.m. ET  Overview of the funding opportunity, presentation of review considerations, and question-and-answer session.
• Networking Webinar August 14, 2024  11 a.m.–noon ET  Meet and greet with potential partners or collaborators needed to form strong multidisciplinary applicant teams.

July 29, 2024, 1:30 p.m.-2:45 p.m. ET; NIH Videocast

A promising area of medical research is the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to analyze large sets of data in order to gain better understanding of the development of disease (pathogenesis) and the restoration of health (salutogenesis). Dr. Aaron Lee is co-principal investigator on the AI-READI project, funded through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Common Fund’s “Bridge to Artificial Intelligence” (Bridge2AI) program. AI-READI is generating high-quality, multimodal, and ethically sourced data that will be ready for AI/ML methods to study salutogenesis in the context of type 2 diabetes. In addition to describing AI-READI, Dr. Lee will also discuss researching the health of the whole person, not just separate organs or body systems, and AI/ML advances from ophthalmology. Registration is not required. Watch the livestream.

The lecture is part of NCCIH’s Integrative Medicine Research Lecture Series, which provides overviews of the current state of research and practice involving complementary health approaches and explores perspectives on integrative health.