The University's Center for Complementary and Alternative Therapy has received two grants totaling more than $4.1 million.
The money will support an interdisciplinary effort between the center and the schools of Nursing, Medicine and Engineering at the University.
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health provided the grants, which will go toward studying non-traditional therapies such as massage and acupuncture.
NIH will distribute the money to the center over the next five years, according to Ann Gill Taylor, professor of nursing and principal investigator for the grants.
Taylor said she plans to use the money to expand research training to support pre- and post-doctoral research programs for careers in complementary therapies.
The program will combine efforts in the Medical and Nursing schools with the Department of Biomedical Engineering in the Engineering school.
Taylor also plans to use the money to enable trainees to study during the summer and at other times of the year, as well as providing a stipend for post-doctoral research.
"[My] vision is for U.Va. to become a flagship research center for interdisciplinary training in this emerging field," Taylor said.
The Center for the Study of Complementary and Alternative Therapies was founded at the University in 1995 and is funded by the National Institutes of Health. It is based in the Nursing School, but it is an interdisciplinary field.
It was created to evaluate the effectiveness of complementary and alternative therapies that might be used to relieve pain and suffering.
Some of the therapies it focuses on are acupuncture, herbal products, chiropractic therapy and dietary supplements.
The center also has worked with Student Health to make sure herbal products or dietary supplements are not taken with certain medications.
In 1997, 47 percent of Americans spent nearly $22 billion on forms of complementary and alternative therapies - numbers that may have risen in the past three years, Taylor said.
Nursing School Dean Jeanette Lancaster said the grants would enable Taylor and others to perform an interdisciplinary scientific evaluation of the field.
Lancaster said she envisions the grant making the center "a model for interdisciplinary research."
The research will help determine the usefulness of these practices and credits Taylor with receiving the grants, she added.
"Dr. Taylor has a significant history of innovation and [these grants] are just one more example of her innovation," Lancaster said.
Representatives from NIH could not be reached for comment.
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