Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is an international leader in integrative oncology care, research, and education. Since our Integrative Medicine Service was established in 1999, we have engaged in scientific research to evaluate complementary (integrative) therapies for cancer, with the goal of determining which specific therapies are most useful in treating particular symptoms.

We know that a therapy works only when it has been scientifically tested and found to be effective and safe. Anecdotal reports may provide research ideas, but they are not proof that a therapy works. Patients and the public have a right to know whether therapies of all kinds fulfill the claims they make.

The burgeoning interest in integrative medicine has been accompanied by increasing research support from the National Institutes of Health and other sources. This support has made it possible to conduct well-designed, high-quality studies on par with that of other scientific research.

We conduct clinical as well as basic science research in collaboration with senior clinical and laboratory scientists in MSK departments and the Sloan Kettering Institute.