Now, we have to choose among the many priorities how we spend the money that the American people generously give us... And our system of prioritization is really the same as the rest of the NIH. We invest more in those things that have a greater burden on American health. We invest in those practices that Americans are using the most, and you’ll see this in some of the research that I summarize.

And, as an investigator, I’m interested not only in knowing whether a practice works, and whether it’s safe, but why it works, what the underlying mechanisms might be. We invest more in things for which there’s already evolving data rather than just anecdotes, although there are times to invest in those in an exploratory way, and we invest in those things that are ethical and feasible. Just because the public may choose to use a certain practice doesn’t mean we can study it. We can’t ask somebody to sign informed consent to withhold certain practices that we are bound, through good evidence, to rely upon.

And in the NIH as a whole, we invest in those areas where private investment is lacking. And in this area, it’s everything.