Get involved: support science and advocacy this April

April is going to be an incredibly exciting month for advocacy and for research into ME!

The NIH is hosting a conference on ME in early April along with a Young Investigators Workshop specifically geared towards early-career investigators with interest in ME.  Concurrently, there will be a Congressional lobbying push hosted by #MEAction and SMCI in the Washington D.C. area. There are lots of opportunities to learn, to receive travel awards, and to fight for better treatment for people with ME.  So let’s break it all down and learn a little bit more about the ME community’s busy spring!


1. Advocacy Week with #MEAction & SMCI

Goal:

ME/CFS Advocacy Week brings people with ME, their loved ones, advocates, scientists, clinicians and caregivers from across the country together to call for more action and research funding, meet other advocates, and share their unique stories with members of Congress, together in one voice. The keystone event of ME/CFS Advocacy Week is Washington DC Lobby Day, a full-day Capitol Hill storm where hundreds of advocates meet face to face with members of Congress and their staff.

#MEAction needs your feet on the ground! Monday, April 1st we will need 1-2 volunteers from 2-5pm and then on Tuesday, April 2nd, we will need 1-2 volunteers help us with check-in from 12-3pm.  If you can help, please contact [email protected].

#MEAction and SMCI are sponsoring several travel awards for Advocacy Week. Download this straightforward WORD (.DOC) application. Once you’ve filled it out, save it as a new file called “SMCI 2018 Lobby Day 2019 Travel Award Application –  (YOUR NAME)” and email to [email protected].

They are due this Thursday, February 28.

When:

Monday, April 1 (check-in, logistics)

Tuesday, April 2 (Advocacy Workshops)

Wednesday, April 3 (On The Hill)

Where:

April 1 – 2:

The Marriott Hotel 

5151 Pooks Hill Road

Bethesda, Maryland

April 3:

Congressional Offices

Find out more:
[maxbutton id=”11″ url=”https://www.meaction.net/2019/01/22/register-now-for-me-cfs-advocacy-week-dc-lobby-day-2019/” text=”Read more and register”]
[maxbutton id=”11″ url=”http://lobby19.solvecfs.org/” text=”Learn all about Advocacy Week”]
[maxbutton id=”11″ url=”https://solvecfs.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/SMCI_MEAction-2019-Advocacy-Day-Travel-Award-Application3.docx” text=”Download the Travel Award App”]

2. Young Investigators Workshop

The #MEAction Director of Scientific and Medical Outreach was involved in helping to plan the workshop, along with Richard and Annika Simpson from Invest in ME, Sadie Whittaker from SMCI, and Linda Tannenbaum of the Open Medicine Foundation.  Researchers from Nova, Cornell, NINDS, RTI, and scientist-advocates like Becky Taurog were also involved in calls.

When:

Wednesday, April 3

Where:

NIH Clinical Center

Building 10

FAES Classrooms

Find out more:

Be sure to click through the tabs at the top of the page!

[maxbutton id=”11″ url=”https://meetings.ninds.nih.gov/?ID=22837″ text=”Young Investigators Homepage”]

3. NIH Conference

Goal:

The NIH conference will bring researchers from all over the world who have shown interest in studying ME.  We are hopeful that the NIH will pull in researchers of different disciplines and backgrounds in order to widen the field and forge new partnerships.  If you have research connections, please urge them to attend the conference and learn more about ME.

#MEAction is currently funding two medical students and two clinicians to attend the conference.  Apply by clicking on the button below and filling out the Google form.  We recommend that you write your answers in a separate document and paste them into the form for ease of use.

When:

Thursday, April 4

Friday, April 5

Where:

NIH Main Campus, The Masur Auditorium, Building 10 – Clinical Center, 10 Center Drive, Bethesda, MD

Find out more:
[maxbutton id=”11″ url=”http://palladianpartners.cvent.com/events/accelerating-research-on-myalgic-encephalomyelitis-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-me-cfs-meeting/event-summary-2e5f90defaa4406e8fce234835e11fdf.aspx” text=”Register for the NIH Conference”]
[maxbutton id=”11″ url=”https://www.meaction.net/2019/01/29/apply-to-attend-the-nih-conference-with-a-scholarship-from-meaction-open-to-medical-students-and-practicing-medical-professionals/” text=”Apply for the #MEAction scholarship”]

Questions? Comments? Reach out to [email protected] or leave a comment and we’ll do our best to answer.

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