Designing a Decentralized Randomized Controlled Trial of Acupuncture for the Treatment of Gulf War Illness Symptoms 
Lisa Conboy, ScD

Decentralized Randomized Controlled Trials (dRCT) allow collection of clinical data that is both naturalistic and high quality.  This talk focuses on dRCT work using acupuncture to treat the complex multisymptom illness, Gulf War Illness.  Ten years ago our lab completed a successful Army Funded dRCT “The Effectiveness of Acupuncture in the Treatment of Gulf War Illness” (W81 XWH). In 2024 we received additional funding to confirm the parent study with a larger sample size, greater geographic representation among subjects, and additional biomarkers.  As with our previous project we use Whole Person toolkit to understand changes associated with treatment.

Dr. Lisa Conboy has conducted health research and taught research methodology to students of sociology, biomedicine, and complementary medicine for over 30 years.   With degrees in public health and sociology, she specializes in the study of traditional and complex health systems.   She is published in the areas of Women's Health, Complementary and Alternative Medicine, qualitative research methodology, and complexity science. An Instructor at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, she is also the Director of Research and Special Projects at Seattle Institute of East Asian Medicine.  Dr. Conboy is the chair of the Research Committee of the American Society of Acupuncturists.

Register here: https://ucsf.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwpdO6srz0tHNyG8Y5ehlmfRhpW0S8MtSXC

For information on Research Seminars at the Osher Center for Integrative Health, visit our website: https://osher.ucsf.edu/research/research-seminars