
Home Institution: University of Zurich
Field: Integrative and Digital Health Interventions
Current Positions:
- Chair, Complementary and Integrative Medicine, University of Zurich
- Director, Institute for Complementary and Integrative Medicine, University Hospital Zurich
- Professor, University of Maryland Center for Integrative Medicine, Baltimore
- Senior researcher, Institute for Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin
My Driving Question
How can clinical research generate better evidence to help people make more informed choices?
Scholar Project
Dr. Witt believes that Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) and participatory research have the potential to unlock much of the evidence that can increase choices available to patients, especially those suffering from chronic disease. As a Nova Institute Scholar, Dr. Witt has been engaged in the development of Effectiveness Guidance Documents for CER, teaching clinical research methods and CER to international audiences, and generating papers in subjects ranging from acupuncture research guidance to the impact of corporate culture on mergers involving integrative medicine services and digital health approaches.
Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER): CER provides better evidence for better decisions, and Dr. Witt is focused on advancing the field of CER for complementary and integrative medicine. With the development of recommendations and Effectiveness Guidance Documents, she has made a landmark contribution for future research.
Corporate culture principles from mergers in Integrative Medicine: The integration of conventional and complementary medicines in a hospital or clinic requires the “marriage” of two distinct cultures in an effort to provide integrative health care services. By exploring the principles of corporate culture as used for mergers in the business world, Dr. Witt has been at work to develop a set of recommendations that facilitate smooth transitions for health care entities interested in the implementation of integrative medicine services.
International Research Training: Dr. Witt provides hand-on research methodology trainings. Her instruction focuses on two key areas: basic study design and basic statistics and the design of pragmatic trials for CER.
Biography
Claudia Witt is a full professor at the Medical Faculty of the UZH and director of the Institute for Complementary and Integrative Medicine of the University Hospital Zurich. She is a physician and epidemiologist and holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Health Care Management.
From 2017-2021, she was Vice Dean for Interprofessionalism and Internationality of the Medical Faculty of the UZH. She heads the doctoral program for Care and Rehabilitation Science and is co-director of the Digital Society Initiative at the UZH. She is also part-time Professor for Primary Care at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. Before her appointment to Zurich, she worked at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin at the Institute for Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics, which she last headed provisionally and held a Professorship for Complementary Medicine.
Claudia Witt’s research focuses on the evaluation of non-pharmacological interventions in integrative medicine, as well as non-specific factors such as therapy outcomes. To answer her research questions, she engages stakeholders and applies methods of clinical research, health economics, implementation science and neuroimaging. In her current research, participatory and digital health aspects play an important role; she has been conducting clinical studies on mobile health interventions since 2011. She advocates a reflective approach to digitalization in medicine.
Her publications could be accessed here.
Selected Publications
Comparative Effectiveness Research
- Effectiveness guidance document (EGD) for Chinese medicine trials: a consensus document. Trials, May 2014
- Which research is needed to support clinical decision-making on integrative medicine?
—Can comparative effectiveness research close the gap? Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine, 2012 - Clinical research on traditional drugs and food items—the potential of comparative
effectiveness research for interdisciplinary research. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, May 2013 - Effectiveness Guidance Document (EGD) for acupuncture research—a consensus document for conducting trials. BMC Complementary & Alternative Medicine, August 2012
- Building a strategic framework for comparative effectiveness research in complementary and integrative medicine. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2012
- How well do randomized trials inform decision making: systematic review using comparative effectiveness research measures on acupuncture for back pain. PLOS ONE, February 2012
- Using the framework of corporate culture in “mergers” to support the development of a cultural basis for integrative medicine – guidance for building an integrative medicine department or service. Patient Preference and Adherence, January 2015
- Combining ‘omics and comparative effectiveness research: Evidence-based clinical research decision-making for Chinese medicine Science Magazine January 2015
Mergers
- Corporate culture assessments in integrative oncology—a qualitative case study of two integrative oncology centers.
Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, May 2013
Research Training
- Research training in integrative medicine: how can we make teaching and learning in research methods more sustainable and engaging? Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing, September-October 2013
- See articles & papers on PubMed