Four New Members Join NCCIH National Advisory Council

The National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) announces the selection of four new members of the National Advisory Council for Complementary and Integrative Health (NACCIH). The NACCIH is the principal advisory body to NCCIH, the lead Federal agency for research on complementary and integrative health. Members of the Council—composed of physicians, scientists, complementary health practitioners, and members of the public—serve four-year terms and meet three times per year to provide second-level peer review, as well as advice and recommendations on prioritizing NCCIH-supported research.

“These distinguished experts bring the Council additional depth in a number of the Center’s priority research interests,” said Helene M. Langevin, M.D., NCCIH Director. “Examples include the science of pain; the medical use of cannabis (marijuana) and its constituents; health and health care in disadvantaged populations; and the epidemiology and treatment of musculoskeletal pain.”

The new members are as follows:

Robert Coghill, Ph.D., is a professor in the Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio. Research in his laboratory focuses on providing a better understanding of the functional organization of central nervous system mechanisms involved in the conscious experience of pain and its implications for chronic pain states. This research encompasses studies of individual differences in pain, mechanisms of pediatric chronic pain, and processes involved in cognitive modulation of pain. Dr. Coghill earned his Ph.D. in physiology from Virginia Commonwealth University and completed postdoctoral fellowships at the Université de Montréal and the National Institute of Dental Research. In 2018, the American Pain Society awarded Dr. Coghill the Frederick W.L. Kerr medallion in recognition of his contributions to the basic science of pain. He is a member of the board of directors of the International Association for the Study of Pain and serves as section editor on pain measurement and imaging for the journal PAIN. He has published more than 75 papers in peer-reviewed journals and 12 book chapters. Dr. Coghill’s funders include NCCIH, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.

Margaret (Meg) Haney, Ph.D., is a professor of neurobiology (in psychiatry) at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, where she is also director of the Cannabis Research Laboratory and co-director of the Substance Use Research Center. In addition, she is a senior research scientist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, also in New York City. Dr. Haney’s current research interests focus on the efficacy of potential treatment medications for cannabis use disorder, and the potential therapeutic effects of cannabis and its constituents for a range of indications (such as appetite enhancement and pain). Dr. Haney received her Ph.D. and M.A. in experimental psychology from Tufts University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médical, Bordeaux, France. She is an elected Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and was president of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence from 2018 to 2019. Dr. Haney has authored more than 145 articles in peer-reviewed journals as well as many book chapters and was co-editor of Neuropsychopharmacology Reviews, “Cannabis and Cannabinoids: From Synapse to Society” (2018). She has been a grantee of the National Institute on Drug Abuse continuously since 1999.

Girardin Jean-Louis, Ph.D., is a professor of population health and psychiatry at New York University (NYU) Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York. He is also director of the Summer Institute in Behavioral Medicine and Sleep Medicine, one of the Programs to Increase Diversity Among Individuals Engaged in Health-Related Research (PRIDE) funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Further, he directs the T32 Program on Translational Behavioral Cardiovascular Health Research at NYU. Dr. Jean-Louis received his Ph.D. in psychology, neurocognition, and sleep from the City College of New York and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Diego. His research interests include addressing multilevel barriers that hinder access to adequate care, adoption of healthful practices, and adherence to treatment in diverse and/or vulnerable populations. His research findings have appeared in 180 conference proceedings and book chapters and 195 peer-reviewed scientific journals. Dr. Jean-Louis has been involved in several key NIH-funded studies that have particularly expanded the evidence base in sleep and cardiometabolic diseases, circadian rhythm, aging, and health equity. The National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities are also among his NIH funders.

Karen Sherman, Ph.D., M.P.H., is an affiliate professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington, and a senior scientific investigator at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, both in Seattle. Dr. Sherman is an epidemiologist by training, and her research interests include improving care of back pain, advancing methods for clinical trials, evaluating nonpharmacologic therapies (including in complementary and integrative health) for common health problems, and studying contextual factors related to care. She has led or participated in many NIH-funded clinical trials of therapies for low-back pain, including acupuncture, massage, meditation, and yoga. Dr. Sherman received a Ph.D. in behavioral biology from Cornell University and an M.P.H. from the University of Washington. Among her publications are close to 150 articles in peer-reviewed journals. She is a member of the international advisory board of the Cochrane Complementary Medicine Field and has served as a reviewer and/or in editorial positions for dozens of journals and granting institutions. Dr. Sherman’s research funders include NCCIH, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

More information about the NACCIH is available at https://nccih.nih.gov/about/naccih.