Benefits of working with Prof Ernst.

When I first contacted Dear Professor, back in 2008 I was very naive in terms of systematic reviews and CAM research in general. As far as I can remember, I wanted to do research related to ethics in CAM, compassionate attitude of CAM practitioners or something similar. I received moderately enthusiastic response and I continued working at the UEA as a research associate and had had to wait another two years for our next encounter. I contacted Prof again in 2010 when I was fed up with the Polish academic institutions. At that stage I began to realize the pros and cons of systematic reviews. I did a scoping search in PubMed and found out that quite a few CAM modalities were not researched properly. For instance, I noticed that several RCTs of guided imagery had been published and no systematic review existed. I emailed Prof asking for collaboration on the above mentioned topic. To my amazement, his response was positive and he agreed to participate. This was a pivotal moment in my research career. We started exchanging emails with draft versions of that SR; and after a month or so the paper was ready. I then applied for the post of Associate Research Fellow, attended the interview and got the job of my dreams in Aug 2010. Since then the research has flourished and more than 50 SRs were published on various aspects of CAM (safety and effectiveness). We  still more or less liase with one another, and o hope this will thrive.

I recently have not failed but noticed that our critical publications might have closed several doors for me at world famous research institutions. I emailed the guy in charge of CAM research at Harvard Uni asking him of collaboration on a yoga project. To my surprise, he wrote me that my research collaboration with Prof Ernst had caused a lot of damage to CAM and that I was persona non grata in some CAM environments. I haven't replied him back because I was too busy with  projects. Of course one would ask why? Now I believe that writing this blog is a better way of exploring the plausible answers.

First and foremost, the question would be: Have I done something wrong? Apart from several critical reviews on osteopathy and chiropractic, the vast majority of our projects' conclusions were positive. Take for instance our yoga projects; 75% have reached optimistic conclusions. The same direction would be for guided imagery, herbals and so on. For these reasons I do not think I did something wrong. Conversely I often get emails thanking me for what I have done. Answering this rhetorical question, I firmly believe that ain't. 

Anyway I am extremely grateful for what he did for me. He taught me a lot-a new ways of using my brain and exploring CAM research using objective but critical thinking.

Here is an example: I personally do believe in qigong and its effectiveness in preventing diseases and maintaining overall health; and exercise it a lot. But I do not understand why should I mix my personal experiences with  evidence and state that it is effective for X or Y disorder where the research data would show otherwise?

The fact is that most people know Prof's views but they do not know him personally. I think, he as the person is full of sense of humor, friendly, modest and down-to-earth guy. Meeting him was one of the most valuable experiences of my life and I strongly believe that some doors might eventually open as the result of our nearly two years long cooperation. Thanks for reading.