Posted by Cort Johnson Talk about reaching out and communicatingup up up up up up up up up. Dennis Mangan, the leader of the CFS Working Group at the NIH, has set up a ListServe that will automatically send you information from the NIH on what their ME/CFS activities. Bit by bit Dennis is transforming the way the NIH operates
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The Stars Begin to Align at the NIH: A CFS Review Panel…. For CFS!
Posted by Cort Johnson A Head-Splitter – Of all the problems at the NIH the makeup of the panel that reviews and scores ME/CFS grants – called the CFS SEP – may have been the most head-splittingly frustrating. No subject is guaranteed to raise blood pressure levels more quickly and perhaps, no other group has been more effective at throttling
ContinueNo Money For ME/CFS? Think Again
Posted by Cort Johnson Oct 13 Testimony to the CFSAC Whenever the CFS community asks for funding we always hear are that ‘money is tight’ – too tight to help out with CFS – as if doing so would somehow break the budget. The truth is there’s always money for the NIH to do what it wants to do. Every
ContinueCDC at the Edit CFSAC Meeting: Dr. Unger’s Job Interview and More
Posted by Cort Johnson Dr. Unger’s ‘Job Interview’ by the CFSAC Committee The new CDC CFS chief should be announced fairly soon and Dr. Unger is one of the candidates to lead it. With that fact in mind the Committee at times asked her some fairly pointed questions. A Biological Basis – Really? Dr. Unger stated that ‘there has never
ContinueIACFS/ME President Urges CDC Writing Campaign
Posted by Cort Johnson Dr. Fred Friedberg, President of the IACFS/ME, requests that CFS/ME professionals and patient-oriented activists write letters to the CDC to Dr. Stephan Monroe with copies to Dr. Thomas Frieden regarding the selection of a new Chief of the Chronic Viral Diseases Branch at the CDC. See below for Dr. Friedberg’s request which is posted with his
ContinueConspiracy or Confusion?
Posted by Cort Johnson Hillary Johnson has just posted a long blog that provides alot of backup information on the controversies over the last couple of weeks. According to one of her resources the directors of the NIAID and the NIH as well as administrators at the CDC, were all involved in the withdrawal of the Alter paper. She reports
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A Look Back at Dr. Reeves CDC
Posted by Cort Johnson A look back at the Pro’s and Con’s of Dr. Reeves Tenure at the CDC THE PRO’s – despite the antagonism towards Dr. Reeves there were some pro’s to his program A commitment to research – whatever you want to say about Dr. Reeves he was a vigorous ME/CFS researcher. We can’t know what the internal
Continue Dr. Reeves Out at the CDC
Posted by Cort Johnson In a startling announcement on 3pm on Friday the CFIDS Association of America reported that the man who’d vowed to outlast everyone, Dr. Willam Reeves of the CDC, was out and that Dr. Elizabeth Unger was temporarily taking over controls of the CDC’s CFS Research program. Certainly, no one expected this. At the end of the
Continue 2009 In Review
Posted by Cort Johnson EVENTS Biggest Event – what else? XMRV takes the spotlight as no research finding has before, retrovirologists across the world clamor for samples, worry mounts about a tainted blood supply, Hilary Johnson blows into the New York Times Op Ed section, and patients gasp and cross their fingers in hopes that it will all work out. See XMRV
ContinueA Dark Vision
Posted by Cort Johnson Hilary Johnson, beloved CDC headhunter is raking the CFIDS Association over the coals again. Once again she’s taking no prisoners. In her last blog on the CAA she called the organization the Bechtel of the CFS community and accused them of inciting a ‘pogrom’. In this blog she proclaims CAA is the CDC and vice versa .
ContinueXMRV in the Spotlight
Posted by Cort Johnson XMRV was next up at the mike at the CFSAC meeting. First Dr. Peterson went over the published research one more time. Hearing it again simply reinforced what an extraordinary discovery XMRV may be. His presentation was, in some ways, though, really just a prelude to Dr. Coffin’s presentation. The co-author of the major text in
ContinueAtlanta Journalist Smacks the CDC
Posted by Cort Johnson The CDC Problem – The CDC attempted to explain away the patients explosion of frustration at their Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) program as the result of a well organized plot by the CFID’s Association of America. They haven’t yet come up with a good explanation for the avalanche of criticism visited upon them by the professional community. Instead of responding to
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