For the first time, a major cash prize is being offered to a researcher or practitioner working in the field of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in Canada.


Nominations for the Dr. Rogers Prize for Excellence in Complementary and Alternative Medicine open February 15, 2007 with the winner announced November 1, 2007. The Dr. Rogers Prize for Excellence in Complementary and Alternative Medicine will be awarded to a health researcher or practitioner who has demonstrated vision, leadership and integrity and who has made a significant contribution to the field of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM).
The $250,000 prize, funded by Vancouver’s Lotte and John Hecht Memorial Foundation, will be awarded biennially starting this year. The Dr. Rogers Prize is the largest of its kind in North America. Nominations will be accepted this spring and an independent jury of international experts will select the winner. The prize will be awarded at an award ceremony and dinner in Vancouver on November 1.
The prize is named for Dr. Roger Rogers, a UBC Clinical Associate
Professor emeritus who is also a recognized Canadian leader in CAM. Dr. Rogers began offering alternative treatments in the mid-1970’s and eventually co-founded the Centre for Integrated Therapy in Vancouver in 1992, which later evolved into the present-day Centre for Integrated Healing. The Centre was set up for cancer patients who had little or no success with traditional medical treatments.
Dr. Rogers believed that “people have a right to try before they die”, underlying his belief that mainstream or traditional medicine could be complemented by other treatments. Despite being dismissed by some a couple of decades ago, much of Dr. Rogers’ groundbreaking work has now been documented by research as having merit.
Dr. Roger Rogers retired in 2001, but the Centre for Integrated Healing continues his work. In recognition of his pioneering role in the advancement of CAM, the Dr. Rogers Prize is being awarded to advance research in the field nd to help increase the availability of CAM to patients wishing to explore additional treatment options for cancer and other diseases.
The Dr. Rogers Prize is designed to highlight the important ontributions of CAM to health care and to honour the pioneering work in CAM carried out in Canada thus far.
In the past, there has often been some doubt about the value of CAM, but it is now gaining acceptance, even among practitioners of traditional medicine. The Dr. Rogers Prize for Excellence in Complementary and Alternative Medicine aims to further the acceptance and use of CAM and encourage Canada’s best and brightest to adopt, research and utilize CAM.
“We’re not trying to dismiss or replace traditional medical procedures, far from it,” said Dr. Sherri Magee of the Dr. Rogers Prize Advisory Panel, who advocates both traditional medicine and CAM. “Many CAM practices are becoming more and more recognized as acceptable ways of improving health and supporting the body’s own healing abilities before problems arise and during treatment for various diseases. Research is proving that CAM is able to
provide us with new avenues for treatment that should be explored.
“Dr. Rogers has given us a good start, but we’re only beginning to
explore the benefits CAM can provide. The Dr. Rogers Prize is aimed at
encouraging that work to continue here in Canada.”
The jury for the Dr. Rogers Prize includes:
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Nominations for the Dr. Rogers Prize will be accepted starting February 15, 2007 and will close at 5:00 PM Pacific Time on May 31, 2007. Details are available at www.drrogersprize.org.
For further information: Media contact: Dr. Sherri Magee, PhD, Dr.
Rogers Prize Media Liaison, Phone: (604) 646-3563, E-mail:
smagee@drrogersprize.org, Online: www.drrogersprize.org
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Law Offices of Michael H. Cohen offers general corporate legal services, litigation consultation, and expertise in health law with a unique focus on alternative, complementary, and integrative medical therapies.

Michael H. Cohen is Principal in Law Offices of Michael H. Cohen and also President of the Institute for Integrative and Energy Medicine (also known as the Institute for Health, Ethics, Law, Policy & Society), a forum for exploration of legal, regulatory, ethical, and health policy issues involved in the judicious integration of complementary and alternative medical therapies (such as acupuncture and traditional oriental medicine, chiropractic, massage therapy, herbal medicine) and conventional clinical care. The most recent published book by Michael H. Cohen on health care law, regulation, ethics and policy pertaining to complementary, alternative and integrative medicine and related fields is Healing at the Borderland of Medicine and Religion. This is the fourth book in a series, following Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Legal Boundaries and Regulatory Perspectives (1998), Beyond Complementary Medicine: Legal and Ethical Perspectives on Health Care and Human Evolution (2000), and Future Medicine: Ethical Dilemmas, Regulatory Challenges, and Therapeutic Pathways to Health Care and Healing in Human Transformation (2003).
Health care and corporate lawyer Michael H. Cohen has also been admitted to the Bar of England and Wales as a Solicitor (non-practicing), adding to Bar membership in four U.S. states.
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