eCAM benefits from diversity that derives from CAM

‘Diversity’ is now a magic word, showing up everywhere and often used to embrace many aspects of human activity, whether in government, the arts, sciences, research, choice of research subjects or so on. In many respects diversity represents an encompassing teamwork, and we all know the success of teams in sports in popular terms and the rewards of successful research teams. Thus, we can safely conclude that a diverse team can be a creative team since when investigators of different points of view are brought together, they ponder and question the interpretations, procedures and practices of others. Such is the case for the scientific approach (1). Thus, often butting heads, sometimes even locking horns in healthy debate, is most often resolved by the emergence of creativity. I will now propose several ways in which eCAM approaches the question of diversity and I hope that in the process we also engage in this act of creation. First, the editorial board of eCAM is one that is diverse, and to ensure one aspect of creativity, many of us have never worked together, thus allowing for the infusion of different points of view. Our first purpose in establishing the eCAM editorial board has been to gather a mixture of experienced biomedical scientists and to combine them with newcomers from a variety of fields who are willing to embrace CAM and to extend themselves beyond their better known academic classifications or ‘pigeonholes’. As one of our bases is in Japan, our search for diversity began in Asia at biomedical conferences and research centers in Japan, Taiwan, Korea, India, China, Hong Kong and Thailand, at the same time visiting similar events and places in Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Europe and the United States. And these journeys were just the beginning; we are now in the planning stages for increased involvement in South America, the Middle East and the African continent. In our official letter inviting scholars to join our board, we include the following words: ‘CAM is a worldwide phenomenon and eCAM will seek to be inclusive of new and old work all over the globe. With this same broad view, we envision an active and varied Editorial Board on which philosophers and historians will be engaged in dialogues with neuroscientists, immunologists, practitioners and clinicians.’ To date, the editorial board numbers about 75 members, who reside in most of the continents and many countries. What are most important are not so much the numbers as the disciplines that they embrace, and the list is ever extending into new and exciting areas of CAM. Clearly the crucial functions of editorial board members are threefold: submitting their own manuscripts, critically reviewing papers and recruiting papers. Their voices as contributors and referees have been critical in establishing the unique worldview that can be found in each issue of eCAM. As one peruses our disciplines there is, to be sure, a seeming focus on immunology—but not to the exclusion of other disciplines. Thus, the triangle of the three regulatory systems (nervous–endocrine–immune) is not so evenly distributed, but at least the immunologists realize the intimate connectedness of this triumvirate. Going beyond one’s usual classification is best exemplified by invertebrate immunologists (2,3), who bring fresh notions of using animal products as prime targets from which newer technologies can be applied to CAM. Molecular approaches based upon antimicrobial peptides promise to add to the emerging bioprospecting compendium, moving it from the realm of invertebrate immunology to the CAM sector (4–6). (There was already a historical precedent for using products from snails (7).) Moving to the apiary, biologists who look at products from honeybees are already known internationally (8–12). The lesson to be learned and eventually put into practice concerns a wider approach to a For reprints and all correspondence: Edwin L. Cooper, Distinguished Professor, Laboratory of Comparative Neuroimmunology, Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1763, USA. Tel: þ1-310-825-9567; Fax: þ1-310-825-2224; E-mail: [email protected]