Category Archives: Research

Who Reviews ME/CFS Applications for NIH?

Posted on February 5, 2019 by Jennie Spotila

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’s Obstacle Course to Success for ME/CFS Researchers

Posted on November 29, 2018 by Jennie Spotila

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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NIH Funding for ME Goes Down in 2018

Posted on October 21, 2018 by Jennie Spotila

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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How Much Will NIH Spend in 2018?

Posted on July 30, 2018 by Jennie Spotila

Fiscal year 2018 is almost over, and I have calculated how much NIH is likely to spend on ME research this year. The short answer? Based on current numbers, I project a 17.6% decrease in NIH spending on ME/CFS research … Continue reading →

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NIH 2017 Funding Fact-Check

Posted on July 23, 2018 by Jennie Spotila

Today, we need to revisit and reconcile NIH’s funding numbers for FY 2017. NIH is reporting that it spent $15 million dollars on ME/CFS research last year, but this includes several non-ME/CFS studies. The truth is that NIH actually spent … Continue reading →

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NIH Forms New Working Group on ME/CFS

Posted on June 22, 2018 by Jennie Spotila

NIH recently announced that it is forming a new Working Group on ME/CFS. The announcement is very low on specifics, but this Working Group has the potential to make a big impact on research at NIH. Dr. Walter Koroshetz, Director … Continue reading →

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NIH Time Warp

Posted on June 7, 2018 by Jennie Spotila

Let’s take a quiz. I have a letter that was sent on behalf of Dr. Francis Collins, Director of NIH, to a person with ME, and I want you to guess when that letter was sent. Here’s an excerpt: First, … Continue reading →

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The NIH Pilot Program: Wait and See

Posted on May 21, 2018 by Jennie Spotila

MEAction has collected thousands of signatures on a letter to Dr. Francis Collins, asking for a meeting with him and a plan of action to attack the ME public health crisis. That request is all the more urgent because NIH … Continue reading →

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All The Time and None At All

Posted on April 25, 2018 by Jennie Spotila

Dr. Francis Collins, in answering a question about ME research on April 20th, said that NIH recognizes and empathizes with our suffering and our “frustration that so little is known.” Then he dropped some knowledge. Dr. Collins said, “Research, done … Continue reading →

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2017 NIH Spending on ME/CFS Research

Posted on March 20, 2018 by Jennie Spotila

It is time to analyze how NIH spent its investment in ME research in 2017. NIH has not yet issued its own tally for 2017 through the categorical spending page, so I can’t say for sure how much money NIH … Continue reading →

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