Khalsa Named Director of NCCIH Extramural Activities Division
Photo: Lisa Helfert
He began his NIH career in 2006 as a program director in NCCIH’s Division of Extramural Research, in which he administered the center’s portfolio related to manual (hands-on) therapies. Topics ranged from massage, soft-tissue therapies and manipulation/mobilization to mechanisms, translational tools and clinical trials, with a particular emphasis on musculoskeletal pain.
In 2014, Khalsa became deputy director of the extramural research division. Among his other accomplishments have been serving as the NIH co-chair of the task force on chronic low-back pain, a group of external scientific experts convened by NIH, and administering NCCIH’s Centers of Excellence program in complementary and integrative therapies.
Khalsa received a doctor of chiropractic degree from Southern California University of Health Sciences and led a successful private practice for a decade. He then decided to pursue additional scientific training, obtaining an M.S. in biomedical engineering from Boston University and a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
He was a postdoctoral fellow in neurophysiology at Yale University School of Medicine. Khalsa came to NCCIH from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where he was a tenured associate professor and vice chairman in the department of biomedical engineering.
“I am delighted to announce this appointment, which followed a rigorous nationwide search,” said Dr. Josephine Briggs, NCCIH director. “Dr. Khalsa has a sustained history of exceptional accomplishment, recognition and leadership in the field of complementary and integrative health. He has brought the center unique expertise; has developed a strong program in complementary therapies with a particular focus on biomechanics, manual therapies and back pain; and is an exceptional manager of clinical and basic research as well as an expert in NIH administrative operations.”