A program to celebrate the life and career of Dr. Straus, founding Director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and senior investigator in the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who died May 14, 2007.

Welcome: Ruth Kirschstein, M.D. Acting Director National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Senior Advisor to the Director National Institutes of Health

Remarks: Elias Zerhouni, M.D. Director National Institutes of Health

Anthony Fauci, M.D. Director National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Jeffrey Cohen, M.D. Head, Medical Virology Section Laboratory of Clinical Infectious Diseases National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Janet Dale, R.N., M.P.H. Staff Scientist, Clinical Studies Unit Laboratory of Clinical Infectious Diseases National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Lawrence Tabak, D.D.S., Ph.D. Director National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research

Robert Nussenblatt, M.D., M.P.H. Acting Scientific Director National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Chief, Laboratory of Immunology National Eye Institute

Camille Hoover, M.S.W. Executive Officer National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Stephen Katz, M.D., Ph.D. Director National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases

Stephen E. Straus, M.D., 60, the first director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), died of brain cancer May 14, 2007, at his home in Potomac, Maryland.

"As NCCAM's first Director, Dr. Straus articulated an uncompromising and compelling agenda for scientific research and research training that engendered broad interest and collaboration,” noted Elias Zerhouni, M.D., Director of the National Institutes of Health. “His success stemmed from the fact that he understood that the commitment to help patients had to be constantly evolving in order to meet their needs. The NIH has lost a great leader and an outstanding scientist. Most of all, we have lost a dear friend.”

“As the founding Director of NCCAM from 1999 to 2006, Dr. Straus built a comprehensive research enterprise, championing the efforts to establish the efficacy and safety of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practices while upholding the rigorous standards of science for which the NIH is known. Under his leadership, CAM research at NIH grew threefold, facilitating his vision of an evidence-based integrative approach to health care for the benefit of the public. As a friend and fellow virologist, I will sorely miss him. I am proud to have been chosen to be the Acting Director of NCCAM to uphold and further his vision for the Center,” said Ruth L. Kirschstein, M.D.

An internationally recognized scientist, Dr. Straus also held the position of Senior Investigator in the Laboratory of Clinical Investigation at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). His bench-to-bedside research yielded original insights into the pathogenesis and management of several viral and immunological diseases.

"Dr. Straus was a superb physician-scientist who constantly sought new answers to improve the health of patients," said Anthony Fauci, M.D., Director of NIAID, where Dr. Straus had a long and successful career, notably as Chief of the NIAID Laboratory of Clinical Investigation. "Steve also was one of the kindest and most compassionate clinicians I have known, and served as a mentor for many young investigators who have become extraordinary physician-scientists in their own right."

http://nccam.nih.gov/news/2007/051507.htm

http://nccam.nih.gov/about/memorial.htm