The Centre for Complementary Medicine Research at the University Hospital ‘rechts der Isar’ of Technische Universität München can look back on more than 20 years of history. With effect from January 1, 2010, a chair of naturopathy and complementary medicine was established by the Faculty of Medicine, and Dieter Melchart, the longstanding leader of the centre, was appointed. It is the only position of this kind at the Bavarian universities and is funded by the Erich Rothenfußer Foundation. Due to restructuring of the organisation, the centre will now be referred to as ‘Kompetenzzentrum für Komplementärmedizin und Naturheilkunde KoKoNat’ (Competence Centre for Complementary Medicine and Naturopathy), and the existing out-patient unit for complementary medicine now also offers services in the field of health promotion.
Besides this, the Centre continues to offer advice and CAM treatments to cancer patients. While this service was formerly provided in the context of an interdisciplinary tumour centre of our university hospital, our institution is now an integral part of the newly established Roman Herzog Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The EU FP7-funded coordination project “CAMbrella - A pan-European research network for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)” is coordinated by our Centre. While maintaining a comprehensive approach, the project will also address specific conditions of cancer treatment.
