The role of traditional medicine in the national healthcare systems of developed and developing countries will be explored by key World Health Organisation leaders at a free public seminar at RMIT University this week.

The seminar on Thursday, 12 November, is a key part of an international meeting of Directors of WHO Collaborating Centres for Traditional Medicine, hosted by RMIT Chinese Medicine from 11 to 13 November.

Professor Charlie Xue, the Director of Traditional and Complementary Medicine Research Program at the RMIT Health Innovations Research Institute and the Head of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Traditional Medicine at RMIT, will join high-profile international speakers at the seminar.

Professor Xue will discuss product and practitioner regulation, education development and research in his speech, Ensuring Safe and Effective Use of Traditional Medicine in Australia.

Other speakers at the seminar:

-Dr Xiaorui Zhang, Coordinator of Traditional Medicine, WHO Headquarters, Geneva, WHO Strategies in Promoting Rational Use of Traditional Medicine

-Professor Jack Killen, Deputy Director, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine National Institutes of Health (NCCAM/NIH), Progress and Promise in CAM Research: A US Perspective