Author Archives: Jennie Spotila

Return on Investment II: David Tuller

Last year, I fully endorsed Dr. David Tuller’s crowdfunding appeal in support of his investigative reporting on ME. This year, I am happy to endorse Tuller’s fundraising once again. The progress report that accompanies Dr. Tuller’s fundraising request (and also … Continue reading

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Dr. Collins: Transcript of Remarks on April 5, 2019

Dr. Francis Collins addressed the Accelerating Research in ME/CFS meeting for ten minutes this morning. This is my best effort at a transcript of those comments. Thank you, Walter. I’m really glad to be able to be here for at … Continue reading

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NIH Deadlines

In the next two weeks, there are three important opportunities for the ME community to engage with NIH. April 4th and 5th: NIH is hosting the Accelerating Research on ME/CFS Meeting. Take a look at the agenda and invited speakers. … Continue reading

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Drinking From A Fire Hose

News is coming at the ME community at a crazy pace right now. Each time I go online, there is another controversial article that requires a response. First there was the NPR chronic pain piece and ensuing debacle. Then came … Continue reading

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Who Reviews ME/CFS Applications for NIH?

Note: After publishing this post, I discovered that I had inadvertently missed one meeting in 2017. This post was updated on February 12, 2019 to reflect all new calculations. The changes are not significant enough to alter any conclusions. There … Continue reading

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NIH Obstacles Thwart ME Research

After I published my post on the NIH Obstacle Course (November 2018), readers’ reactions made clear that a shorter version of the article could be useful. Today, STAT published that shorter article in the First Opinion section. You can read … Continue reading

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NIH’s Obstacle Course to Success for ME/CFS Researchers

A shorter version of this article was published on STATNews on January 10, 2019. One message dominates NIH’s talk about ME/CFS research: submit more high quality grant applications. Funding would increase if there were more high quality grant applications. Give … Continue reading

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The Best Holiday Ever

Getting a puppy was not in the plan. My husband and I already had a dog (Fargo) and a cat (Lucas). The plan was for my parents to pick out a dog, and I just went along to help since … Continue reading

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Educating Doctors

The Philadelphia Inquirer recently published an article I wrote about educating doctors about ME. The article can be read here. This week, the Philadelphia County Medical Society is hosting a screening of the film Unrest, followed by a panel discussion … Continue reading

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NIH Funding for ME Goes Down in 2018

Updated May 29 and October 16, 2019 with additional funding numbers. Fiscal year 2018 is over, so now we can answer the question of whether ME research funding at NIH would go up or down. As I predicted back in … Continue reading

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