National Center for Complementary & Alternative Medicine

Two statements of organization published in the Feb. 10 Federal Register, the second notice comprising a mission statement, and the first establishing the official structure of the center. Along with the Office of the Director, the center will have an Office of Administrative Operations; Office of Legislation, Policy and Analysis; Office of Communications and Public Liaison; and Division of Extramural Research, Training and Review. All 12 staffers at the former Office of Alternative Medicine will join the center; efforts to hire seven new employees have begun. Interviews for the director position have concluded, and a short list has been delivered to NIH Director Harold Varmus, MD, who will make the final decision; the position is expected to be filled by late March. OAM was elevated to center status last October ("The Tan Sheet" Oct. 26, 1998, p. 8). The House Appropriations/HHS subcommittee is scheduled to hold a hearing on the center's FY 2000 budget March 4