ORWH’s Pearls of Wisdom series features Helene M. Langevin, M.D., Director of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH). In this video clip, Dr. Langevin gives advice on pursuing a research career. 

As NCCIH director, Dr. Langevin oversees the Federal Government’s lead agency for scientific research on the fundamental science, usefulness, and safety of complementary and integrative health approaches and their roles in improving health and health care. NCCIH funds and conducts research to help answer important scientific and public health questions within the context of whole person health. Dr. Langevin is  chair of the Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee (IPRCC), a fellow of the American College of Physicians, and an intramural senior investigator at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. Her research focuses on how to keep connective tissue flexible and free from pain, slow aging, and increasing the health of the whole body.

Prior to coming to NIH in 2018, Dr. Langevin worked at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, jointly based at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston. Dr. Langevin served as director of the Osher Center and professor-in-residence of medicine at Harvard Medical School from 2012 to 2018. She also previously served as professor of neurological sciences at the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine, Burlington, Vermont.

The Pearls of Wisdom online series of short videos aims to inspire, motivate, and inform women in the beginning or middle stages of their biomedical careers. Produced and funded by ORWH, it features prominent scientists and physicians at NIH and beyond—many from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups—sharing words of wisdom, perspectives, and advice to current and future women scientists. The video series is located on the NIH “Women in Science” website, which describes the history of the NIH Working Group on Women in Biomedical Careers and provides information on supported programs, grants, career development resources, NIH diversity resources, and career flexibility initiatives.