In 2008 Josephine Briggs was appointed as director of NCCAM. She was "...a nephrologist with impeccable scientific credentials...". The appointment was considered surprising since she did not have a background in complementary and alternative medicine or integrative medicine. Writing for Science-Based Medicine, David Gorski states Briggs was in an impossible position. "She was a real scientist trying to impose scientific rigor on an enterprise that was inherently resistant to such an imposition". She attempted to impose a more scientific approach with two long term strategic plans. Unfortunately the plans used "...one of the most harmful tactics of quacks to legitimize their quackery under the banner of "integrative medicine", the co-opting of the opioid crisis as an excuse to claim all nonpharmacological treatments for pain as being "integrative". The results are threatening great harm to chronic pain patients by misguided governments wanting to force them to undergo quack treatments like acupuncture as a means of getting them off opioids". However she was able to eliminate studies on homeopathy and tried to counter anti vaccine beliefs. Energy healing was "...relegated to the fringes, if not eliminated". Most of the studies became centered around nutrition, exercise, pharmacognosy "...and other modalities within the realm of science-based medicine".