NICM appointed as a prestigious WFCMS Collaborating Centre

The World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies (WFCMS) awarded earlier in December NICM Health Research Institute (NICM) as an International Collaborating Centre for Chinese Medicine Clinical Research, one of only four sites to earn this recognition worldwide.

NICM Director, Professor Alan Bensoussan was thrilled to be presented with the award during the official ceremony at the first World Conference of Science and Technology of Traditional Chinese Medicine in China, which recognised NICM’s outstanding contributions to Chinese medicine. The appointment is effective immediately and for a period of five years.

The WFCMS has stringent criteria for selecting collaborating centres and NICM’s appointment represents one of only four international centres outside of China, the others being in Germany and Thailand.

The WFCMS Collaborating Centres aim to:

• provide a technical platform for clinical research in Chinese Medicine;
• conduct ethics reviews of Chinese medicine studies;
• cultivating specialised teams for clinical research design, quality control and statistical analysis;
• carrying out Chinese medicine research on the prevention and treatment of major chronic diseases; and
• facilitating collaboration with local research institutes to strengthen Chinese medicine research.

In addition to NICM’s prestigious selection as a collaborating centre, Professor Bensoussan was announced as Deputy Chair of the Technology Development Committee within the WFCMS focusing on the developing role of technology in the use of Chinese medicine.

Both new appointments further solidify NICM’s prominence and commitment to the advancement of evidence-based Chinese medicine in Australia.