Dr. P. Rammanohar (Research Director, Amrita School of Ayurveda) moderated the Session on “Integration of Ayurveda With Western Medicine for Cancer Treatment and Prevention and Related Research” along with Prof. K. S. Dhiman (Director General, Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences) and also delivered a lecture on “Ayurveda for Cancer Care in India: The Ground Realities” during the Trans NCI-NIH Virtual Conference on International Perspectives on Integrative Medicine for Cancer Prevention and Cancer Patient Management organized by National Cancer Institute, NIH, United States, from October 27-30, 2020. This event was converted to a virtual conference due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The other presenter from India in this session was Dr. Narendra Bhatt, President of the Indian Association for the Study of Traditional Asian Medicine. In earlier sessions, lectures on the scope of Ayurveda in the prevention and management of Cancer were delivered by Prof. Bhushan Patwardhan, Vice-Chairman, University Grants Commission, Government of India and Dr. Geethakrishnan, Technical Officer for Ayurveda at World Health Organisation.
The main focus of the conference was to 1) discuss the integration of traditional, complementary and alternative medicine (TCAM) with conventional cancer prevention and treatment approaches in global health, thus forming new approaches to integrative oncology, and 2) discuss approaches for strengthening Integrative Oncology research in low-and-middle-income-countries (LMICs).
The conference served as a venue to discuss major public health needs, and to describe current research and development efforts in global cancer integrative oncology. It aimed to examine the science in integrative medicine, learn about practices, training, delivery approaches successes and challenges, promising scientific and technological developments. The conference also intended to facilitate scientific collaborations and interactions, to foster the development of new research programs in this important field.
