MedPage Today: ME/CFS is Gaining Attention

MedPage Today Focuses on Need for Recognition of ME/CFS and Research Funding

MedPage Today, a news site for medical workers, published an article about ME/CFS that mentions the #MEAction campaign to increase federal research funding.
The article gathered quotes from top ME/CFS researchers Leonard Jason and Lucinda Bateman, and it summarized the findings of the recent Institute of Medicine report on ME/CFS. Physicians who know little about ME/CFS can get a quick education about the seriousness of the illness and the need for more research by reading the piece.
The article also points out the problems in how the National Institutes of Health reviews grant applications for ME/CFS, and quotes Carol Head of the Solve ME/CFS Initiative urging the NIH to create a dedicated pot of funding to research ME/CFS.
In highlighting the 30-year debate over whether ME/CFS is “real,” the piece also revisits the 1996 case of Judith Curren, an ME/CFS patient who took her own life with the assistance of Dr. Jack Kevorkian.
One tip to the MedPage Today editors: “Chronic fatigue” is a symptom, not an illness, so you might want to change your headline.
[pullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#E6443D” class=”” size=””] Both the IOM report and the CFSAC recommendations emphasized the dearth of federal investment in the disease.

The economic burden of ME/CFS to society — based on lost productivity and medical expenses — stands somewhere from $17 to 24 billion annually, according to the IOM.

Yet NIH spent only $5 million on the disease in fiscal year 2015. An agency report ranks funding for the condition at 231 out of 244 disease research categories, noted a patient’s open letter to Francis Collins, MD, PhD, director of the NIH, in the Washington Post.
[/pullquote]

Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp
Email

Latest News

Red rectangle with the 2025 #millionsmissing logo, then the words Share this SOS Image on your socials. the meaction logo at the bottom right corner.

Share This SOS Image On Your Socials

Please help us spread the word! Share and interact with #MEAction’s social media (we are @meactnet) and share this amazing artwork (above ⬆️ ) and a message about #MillionsMissing with your own networks. Desktop: Download by right clicking on the image or clicking on the download icon in the bottom right corner of the image. Mobile:

Read More »

Millions Missing Scotland 2025: Red alert for ME

This year, Millions Missing Scotland is raising a red alert. Will you be part of it? #MEAction Scotland volunteers will be outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh on Wednesday 14th May, from 12–2pm, calling on the Scottish Government to urgently act on its promises. Around the world, millions are missing – from school, work, communities,

Read More »
redish square image with the US Capitol photo with a red overlay on top of it. The words Congress is hearing from us. Then the MEAction logo in the center bottom.

#MEAction: Congress Is Hearing from Us

#MEAction has been hard at work connecting individuals to their elected officials to talk about the ME/CFS Research Roadmap, Medicaid, and telehealth.  We’ve been partnering with #NotJustFatigue on setting up congressional meetings in order to ask our elected officials for their support in making funding of the ME/CFS Research Roadmap a reality. #MEAction State Chapter

Read More »
Scroll to Top