DOCTOR, DOCTOR, GIVE ME THE NEWS

The International ME Association (IMEA) and patient advocate and IMEA member Keith Baker have nominated Dr. Joan Grobstein, a neonatologist with ME, to sit on the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee (CFSAC).  A graduate of Harvard College and University of California at Davis Medical School, Grobstein was serving as a neonatologist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania when she became ill with ME more than a decade ago.  She has testified before the CFSAC committee several times, most recently last spring (see clip at the bottom of this post).

Baker says that Grobstein’s experience both as a patient and a medical doctor is a good blend of attributes that no one else on the committee has.  “And that’s a perspective that the committee needs,” he says.

Grobstein says she decided she wanted to join CFSAC because the current government response has been “inadequate. Access to care is extremely limited, and there is little funding for research into the causes and potential therapies for the disease,” Grobstein explains. “Patients have waited far too long for progress.”

The deadline for CFSAC nominations is August 17^th. A former high-ranking government worker told CFS Central last spring that in his experience what gets the government’s attention is Facebook. In his view, the government has learned to ignore phone calls, faxes and emails. But Facebook campaigns, he said, “panic” them because they’re viral, embarrassing, and leave an indelible footprint.  Ideally, a campaign endorsing Grobstein’s bid could be started today.