University of Virginia School of Medicine Vice President and Dean Steven T. DeKosky, MD, has been appointed to the NIH’s oversight panel for complementary and alternative medicine treatment modalities by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius.
DeKosky, an international expert in the field of Alzheimer’s Disease research, has been appointed to a four-year term on the National Advisory Council for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM).
“I am honored Secretary Sebelius asked me to serve on NACCAM. The Council was instrumental in supporting my research and I hope to serve as an advocate for continued scientific discovery on complementary and alternative therapies,” DeKosky said.
With support from NCCAM and the NIH, DeKosky led the Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory (GEM) Study to determine if the medicinal herb Ginkgo biloba prevents dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. The results of the study, published in 2008 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found Ginkgo biloba does not prevent dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.
DeKosky has served in leadership roles for several National Institutes of Health research-related activities as well as the boards of directors of both the Alzheimer’s Association USA and Alzheimer’s Disease International. He is a member of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, chairs their Strategic Planning Committee, and will serve as vice president of the organization in 2010. In addition, he serves on the editorial boards of six of the leading neurology and Alzheimer’s clinical publications and is a journal reviewer for an additional 20 clinical journals.
