ICE-TIM Officially Established and Releases Its First Methodological Tools

To address the challenge of existing evidence-based research methods not being suitable for the complex characteristics of traditional medicine, International consortium of evidence based traditional and integrative medicine (ICE-TIM) was officially established on the morning of December 4, 2024, during the Forum for Research and Evidence in Traditional Medicine of 2024 World Conference on Traditional Medicine. Dr KIM Sungchol, Head of Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine Unit, Integrated Health Services, WHO, attended the meeting.

ICE-TIM was jointly initiated by China Center for Evidence-Based Traditional Chinese Medicine, in collaboration with international authoritative evidence-based medicine organizations such as Campbell China Alliance, Cochrane China Center, Lanzhou University GRADE Center, the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine Centre for Evidence-based Nursing: A JBI Affiliated Group, and Best Practice Spotlight Organizations (BPSO) Host-Academic-CHINA. ICE-TIM aims to create an international cooperation platform to work with international evidence-based medicine research institutions to develop and release methodological tools for evidence-based traditional medicine research, promoting the high-quality development of traditional medicine evidence.

During the ceremony, Professor Sun Xin, Professor Bai Zhenggang, Professor Hao Yufang, Professor Chen Yaolong, and Professor Shi Nannan, representing the member institutions of the consortium, signed the ICE-TIM Cooperation Memorandum. They, together with Professor Gordon Henry Guyatt, co-founder of GRADE, Professor Will Moy, CEO of the Campbell Collaboration, and Professor Huang Luqi, President of the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, jointly released five methodological tools.

Ceremony of ICE-TIM cooperation memorandum

ICE-TIM releases evidence-based methodological tools

In his closing remarks, Professor Huang Luqi emphasized that the establishment of ICE-TIM marks a new phase in the research of evidence-based methodologies for traditional medicine. With the support of internationally renowned evidence-based organizations, ICE-TIM is committed to developing and promoting methodological tools suitable for traditional medicine. This will provide a systematic, standardized, and applicable methodological framework for evidence-based research in traditional medicine worldwide. However, the development of evidence-based traditional medicine is a long-term endeavor, requiring the joint efforts of experts and scholars from both the evidence-based and traditional medicine fields to achieve the vision and goals of ICE-TIM.

Professor Huang Luqi

Dr KIM Sungchol

Here, we sincerely call on evidence-based research institutions and academic organizations from all countries to join the development of ICE-TIM. Let us work together to promote the innovative development of traditional medicine in the global health sector and benefit human health.