Author Archives: Jennie Spotila

The Oxford Problem

Posted on December 8, 2014 by Jennie Spotila

Today, I’m very pleased to share this guest post by Chris Heppner. I loved Oxford when there as undergraduate (1951-4)–truly a city of dreaming spires, peaceful libraries, walks in the country to a lovely old pub by a waterfall with … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Research | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

CFSAC: Stand Up for Your Work

Posted on December 3, 2014 by Jennie Spotila

I delivered this public comment by telephone at the December 3, 2014 CFS Advisory Committee meeting. This committee’s legitimacy is at stake. Nine months ago, your March meeting recommendations were substantially altered after your public vote. Documentary evidence that I … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, Commentary | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

NIH: Passing ME/CFS Over Again

Posted on December 1, 2014 by Jennie Spotila

NIH will (in its own mind anyway) be showcasing ME/CFS at the P2P Workshop next week. But ME/CFS research at NIH is caught in a never-ending cycle of being passed over in every way that matters. At its June 2014 … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, Research | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

A Big Helping of Defamation

Posted on November 26, 2014 by Jennie Spotila

I’m going public with an incident that exposes the dirty underbelly of the ME/CFS community. It’s not the first time I’ve been personally targeted, and surely won’t be the last. But bullying and defamation directed at me, or any other … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, Commentary | Tagged , , , , , | 58 Comments

Another CFSAC Violation

Posted on November 24, 2014 by Jennie Spotila

Today I must report that once again, the CFS Advisory Committee violated federal law. This time, recommendations made by the Committee were illegally altered after the public meeting. The story of what happened, how I got it fixed (hopefully), and … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 32 Comments

CFSAC SNAFU

Posted on November 19, 2014 by Jennie Spotila

We’ve known about the CFS Advisory Committee meeting on December 3rd and 4th for awhile, but yesterday the details came out about the agenda and public comment. Judging from the advocates I’ve talked to, it’s not going over well. If … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

P2P: Not This Science

Posted on November 17, 2014 by Jennie Spotila

The P2P Workshop agenda focuses on a few broad categories of ME/CFS research: characteristics of the ME/CFS population; fostering innovative research; presentation and diagnosis in clinic; and, tools and measures for diagnosis and outcomes. Yet even with the late addition … Continue reading →

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P2P and Dr. Francis Collins

Posted on November 10, 2014 by Jennie Spotila

On January 3, 2014, just three days before the P2P Working Group meeting, a troubling series of emails was exchanged among NIH leadership. These emails show confusion at the leadership level about the ME/CFS P2P and IOM efforts, and a … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, Research | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 26 Comments

P2P: The Disinvite List

Posted on November 6, 2014 by Jennie Spotila

UPDATED November 10 11, 2014 (see below) Last week, I focused on the problematic choice of several speakers for the P2P Workshop. Today, we’re going to focus on the speakers who were NOT invited to the Workshop. How do I … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, Research | Tagged , , , , , , , | 22 Comments

Delay

Posted on November 3, 2014 by Jennie Spotila

I have been laid low by an infection, and now by the antibiotics I’m taking to treat the infection. So it will be a few days before I post the next few entries on P2P – but stay tuned because … Continue reading →

Posted in Occupying | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment