Created the Office of Alternative Medicine at NIH to examine the efficacy of alternative and complementary therapies, which is now the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.

Collaborated with Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) to co-author the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA). 

Worked to make certain the DSHEA was implemented fairly and without bias by the Food and Drug Administration.

Pushed for funding for NIH’s Office of Dietary Supplements, which was created by DSHEA and funded through the Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee where he served as chair or ranking member since DSHEA became law.

Pushed the FDA to issue regulations to institute Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) for the dietary supplement industry, and worked the Senate and the dietary supplement industry to craft legislation creating a Serious Adverse Event Reporting System for dietary supplements.

Helped to lead passage of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 and authored the law’s many prevention provisions as the chair of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pension. This landmark reform included a whole array of provisions to jumpstart the transition from the current sick care system to a genuine health care system.

Worked on the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act and fought to give USDA authority to establish national school nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools. 

Collaborated with the industry to form the Congressional Dietary Supplement Caucus, an informal, bipartisan group that facilitates discussions among lawmakers about the benefits of dietary supplements and to promote research into the health-care cost savings these products provide.