A new spotlight interview featuring Dr. Lucinda Bateman was recently posted by Dylan Murphy of #MEAction. Dr. Bateman, who is part of our clinical core at Bateman Horne Center (BHC) for the JAX CRC, is the founder and Chief Medical Officer of BHC, and has treated over a thousand ME/CFS patients since 2000.

In the interview, Dr. Bateman discusses how she first got involved in treating and researching ME/CFS and what research BHC is currently doing. She also explains the BHC Biomarker Research Project and how biomarkers can help to progress the field, in addition to aiding in providing an easier path to diagnosis for patients. She also discusses the need to prioritize a trial of low dose Naltrexone as a treatment option for people with ME/CFS, and explains what Naltrexone is and how it can help patients. In terms of the lack of compassion that ME/CFS patients often experience from their healthcare professionals, Dr. Bateman says that, “the most obvious barrier to compassionate care is incomplete comprehension of the illness and its consequences. We can hope that research progress, stronger biomarkers and scientific support will start to replace this ignorance with knowledge.”

To read the article on #MEAction’s website, click here. 

On February 13, the CDC will hold an ME/CFS Stakeholder Engagement and Communication (SEC) Conference Call to briefly update the community on the CDC’s ME/CFS efforts, followed by a live Q&A session. The conference call will specifically feature updates from Dr. Elizabeth Unger, Chief of the Chronic Viral Diseases Branch at CDC. The call will be held from 3:00 – 4:00 pm ET.

The conference call can be accessed by dialing 1-888-603-7036 and using the participant code CDC MECFS. A transcript will be made available following the call. To sign up to be notified of future calls, send an email to MECFSSEC@cdc.gov.

To view the event on the CDC’s website, click here.