Information about http://www.pms.ac.uk/compmed/ErnstCV-extended.pdf
EDZARD ERNST Complementary…
Tags: 4nt, complementary and alternative medicine, complementary medicine, desktop guide, edzard ernst, hannover medical school, medicine on trial, multinational team, munich germany, oxford handbook, phd theses, physical medicine and rehabilitation, rehabilitation unit, rewarding exercise, sec tel, university of exeter, university of vienna, victoria park, victoria park road, vienna austria,Pages: 4
Language: english
Created: Tue Jul 8 14:31:26 2008
Display cached document
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
EDZARD ERNST
Complementary Medicine, 25 Victoria Park Road, Exeter EX2 4NT, UK
Tel: 01392 430802, Sec Tel: 01392 424989 Fax: 01392 427562
Email: Edzard.Ernst@pms.ac.uk Website: www.pms.ac.uk/compmed
I qualified in 1978 as a physician in Munich (Germany) where I also completed my
MD and PhD theses. In 1988, I became Professor in Physical Medicine and
Rehabilitation (PMR) at Hannover Medical School (Germany) and in 1990 Head of
the PMR Department at the University of Vienna (Austria). My remit in Vienna was to
build up a large rehabilitation unit to serve the then newly constructed "Allgemeines
Krankenhaus" with more than 2000 beds. During my 4 years in Vienna, I extended the
pre-existing unit of ~20 staff to a department with ~100 employees. My department
was the first clinical unit to move into the new hospital. All of this was an
organisational challenge and a most rewarding exercise.
In 1993, I came to the University of Exeter to establish the worldwide first Chair in
Complementary Medicine. In this position, I decided to test the claims of
complementary medicine using the tools of science. If anything, this was an even
greater challenge. Within a few months I recruited a multidisciplinary, multinational
team to tackle it. My accomplishments include:
· several dozens of clinical trials,
· over 100 systematic reviews,
· several books, most recently `The Desktop Guide to Complementary and
Alternative Medicine. (Elsevier 2006), `Oxford Handbook of Complementary
Medicine' (2008), and `Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial'
(2008). This last book is an attempt to summarize the evidence for or against
complementary medicine such that it is accessible for the lay person. The
Sunday Times (20 April 2008) praised our book as being "fearless, intelligent
and remorselessly rational".
A few examples of my primary research may provide an insight into my research.
· When I started my post in Exeter, the general consensus in the world of
complementary medicine was that these treatments are free of adverse effects.
Using simple survey methodology we were able to show that this is not so. For
instance, ~13% of patients using acupuncture reported adverse effects of his
intervention (Nature 1999; 381: 361), a figure that turned out to be very similar
to the one later generated through a large prospective cohort study (BMJ 2001,
323: 485-6). In the case of chiropractic spinal manipulation we demonstrated
that very serious effects(vertebral arterial dissection) exist and that
underreporting of such events is 100% (J Roy Soc Med 2001; 94: 107-10)
· Spiritual healing may seem as a most implausible form of treatment, yet it is
important simply because in the UK ~14000 healers are registered. Our study
(Pain 2001; 9: 79-89) was designed to test whether healing has effects beyond
placebo. For this, we had to introduce innovative concepts in study design. The
results demonstrated impressive placebo effects but no specific effects. Our
methodology has been adopted by many other investigators who also
confirmed our findings.
· The `flagship' remedy of homeopaths is Arnica which is used for bruising and
other trauma. Our RCT tested this hypothesis using two different "potencies"
of Arnica compared against placebo. Our conclusion was that "homeopathic
Arnica has no advantage over placebo in reducing postoperative pain, bruising
and swelling in patients undergoing elective hand surgery" (J Roy Soc Med;
96: 60-65). Several independent systematic reviews have since come to similar
conclusions.
Perhaps my greatest achievements in complementary medicine research include the
following:
· to demonstrate that complementary medicine can be scientifically investigated
which, in turn, brought about a change in attitude both in the way the medical
establishment looks upon complementary medicine and in the way
complementary medicine looks upon scientific investigation.
· to demonstrate that not all of complementary medicine is free of risks.
· to inform the public reliably about the evidence on the efficacy and safety of
complementary medicine.
My work has been internationally recognised through 13 scientific awards and 2
visiting professorships; one from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of
Canada (1999) and one from the UCLA in America. The full list of my awards is as
follows:
· Scientific prize Zeitschrift für Allgemeinmedizin 1984, Germany.
· Kneipp-Preis 1984, Germany.
· Van-Aaken-Preis 1985, Germany.
· Scientific prize Zeitschrift für Allgemeinmedizin 1986, Germany.
· Scientific prize Zeitschrift für Allgemeinmedizin 1987, Germany.
· 1st prize Conrad Jobst Award (Am. Congr. Rehab. Med.) 1989, USA.
· Scientific prize Zeitschrift für Allgemeinmedizin 1989, Germany.
· Preis der Stadt Bad Kissingen 1988 (awarded 1990), Germany.
· Scientific prize Zeitschrift für Allgemeinmedizin 1991, Germany.
· Arpad Matrai Award, Hungarian Soc Clin Hemorrheology 2004, Hungary.
· Annual Health Watch Award, 2005, UK.
· Ernst Fletcher Memorial Award from the Rheumatology and Rehabilitation
Council at The Royal Society of Medicine, 2006, UK.
· American Botanical Council: Norman Farnsworth Award 2006 (awarded March
2007), USA
ITTC Building Tamar Science Park Davy Road Plymouth PL6 8BX UK
Tel +44 (0)1752 764261 Fax +44 (0)1752 764226 Email pmsenq@pms.ac.uk
Dean Professor John Tooke
JM/Ernst CV/2008/PMSCV-ERNST-extended 08/07/2008
During the last 15 years, I have given about 500 invited lectures. A few recent
examples will probably suffice:
2008
· 27th Feb Research in CAM. Annual Research Ethics Training Conference, NHS,
London
· 12th March Are complementary therapies effective for OA? NICE, London
· 19th May Alternative Medicine. Hay Festival, UK
· 12th June Evidence-based approach to the use of complementary medicine.
EULAR, Paris
· 25th June Evidence-based complementary medicine, a contradiction in terms?
Zon Mw, Den Haag (the Dutch equivalent of the MRC)
2007
· 1 Oct CAM for Cancer: The good, the bad and the ugly. NCRI cancer
conference, Birmingham, UK
· 4 Sep Nutzen: Begriffe und Implikationen in der Wissenschaft Institut für
Qaulität und Wirtschaftlichkiet im Gesundheitswesen, Berlin, Germany (the
German equivalent of NICE)
2006
· 9th-10th Feb Herb-drug interactions: an introduction, Health Canada,
Canada
· 23rd Feb Problems with the clinical research in the CAM field, European School
of Oncology, Brussels, Belgium
· 23rd May Clinical studies and meta-analyses of homeopathy, 44th Annual
International Conference of Pharmacy, Meran, Italy.
· 31 Aug Clinical trials and systematic reviews of herbal medicine, 24th Ann
Conf Soc Med Plant Res, Uni Helsinki, Finland
· 16th Nov Distinguished guest lecture, Imperial College, London.
2005
· 12th Jan Systematic reviews of herbal medicines, NIH conference on `Herb-drug
interactions', Bethesda, US
· 2nd Feb Herbal medicines - interactions with synthetic medicines, Food
Standards Agency COT/CSM meeting, London
· 1st Mar Alternative Medicine: any evidence, Royal Society of Medicine Easter
Lecture for young children, London
· 28th Nov The Evidence for CAM: An Alternative but Complementary View from
England, Public lecture, UCLA
· 29th Nov CAM for Rheumatological Conditions, Rheumatology Society of
California
I am Editor or Member of the Editorial Board of about 30 medical journals including:
· Angiology (Associate Editor)
· BMC Complementary Alternative Medicine (Ed Board)
· BMC Medicine (Ed Board)
· Climacteric (Ed Board)
ITTC Building Tamar Science Park Davy Road Plymouth PL6 8BX UK
Tel +44 (0)1752 764261 Fax +44 (0)1752 764226 Email pmsenq@pms.ac.uk
Dean Professor John Tooke
JM/Ernst CV/2008/PMSCV-ERNST-extended 08/07/2008
· Current Drug Safety (Ed Board
· Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies (Editor in Chief)
· Journal Pain Symptom Management (Ed Board)
· Journal Society Integrated Oncology (Ed Board)
· Münchner Medizinische Wochenschrift (Co-Editor)
· Perfusion (Editor in Chief)
· Phytomedicine (Ed Board)
· PLoS Medicine (Ed Board)
· Supportive Care in Cancer (Ed Board)
· Wiener Medizinische Wochenschrift (Ed Board)
I am a member or fellow of numerous professional organisations including the
following:
· Alternative Medicine Research Foundation, Canada
· Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance, UK
· Austrian Society of Internal Medicine
· Austrian Society of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
· Cochrane Collaboration, CAM Field (UK Representative)
· Complementary and Alternative Medicine Research Policy Committee, DoH,
UK
· Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh
· Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, London
· Hecht Memorial Foundation, Canada, Advisory Panel
· International Society for Complementary Medicine Research (Advisor)
· MRC Advisory Board, UK
· The `Science Advisory Board', USA
· The Medicines Commission, UK 1994-2005
· WHO Uppsala Monitoring Centre, Sweden
My ultimate objective is to apply the principles of evidence-based medicine to the
field of complementary medicine such that those treatments which demonstrably do
generate more good than harm become part of conventional medicine and those which
fail to meet this criterion become obsolete.
Edzard Ernst
http://www.pms.ac.uk/compmed
http://www.pms.ac.uk/compmed/symposium
http://www.pharmpress.com/fact
ITTC Building Tamar Science Park Davy Road Plymouth PL6 8BX UK
Tel +44 (0)1752 764261 Fax +44 (0)1752 764226 Email pmsenq@pms.ac.uk
Dean Professor John Tooke
JM/Ernst CV/2008/PMSCV-ERNST-extended 08/07/2008