The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) was created more than 20 years ago to facilitate the study and evaluation of complementary and alternative health practices. During the past two decades, NCCIH has expanded the scientific knowledge base around these practices and established resources to disseminate this information to the public⁠–⁠ultimately impacting their use. The center has worked to advance the position that evidence-based complementary therapies should be “integrated” with and not used as an “alternative” to conventional medicine.

NCCIH’s new strategic plan for Fiscal Years (FY) 2021-2025 expands the definition of integrative health to include whole person health, that is, empowering individuals, families, communities and populations to improve their health in multiple interconnected domains: biological, behavioral, social and environmental. The plan has been informed and shaped by an effort to better define and map a path to whole person health by expanding and building on current activities while advancing new research strategies and ideas.

“Much progress has been made in the research areas that form the NCCIH portfolio since our last strategic plan was released, and we are now ready to integrate this knowledge into a whole person approach,” said Helene Langevin, MD, NCCIH director.

The plan has five major objectives:

• Advance fundamental science and methods development.
• Advance research on the whole person and on the integration of complementary and conventional care.
• Foster research on health promotion and restoration, resilience, disease prevention, and symptom management.
• Enhance the complementary and integrative health research workforce.
• Provide objective, evidence-based information on complementary and integrative health interventions.

For more information, visit www.nccih.nih.gov/about/nccih-strategic-plan-2021-2025.