Invest in ME Research International ME Conference 2007

Norman Lamb MP - MP for Norwich North

Norman Lamb entered Parliament at his second attempt in 2001, gaining this seat from the Conservatives.

Norman Lamb read law at the University of Leicester. He worked for Norwich City Council as a senior assistant solicitor before joining Norfolk solicitors Steele and Co., where he became a partner and head of the firm's specialist Employment Unit.

He worked for a year as a Parliamentary Assistant for Greville Janner, QC, MP.

He was a member of Norwich City Council 1987-91, leading the Liberal Democrats for the last two years of his term.

He has built a strong reputation in Norfolk as a campaigner for improved health services. He has been a critic of cuts in bed numbers and has highlighted the resulting unacceptable level of cancelled operations.

As an MP his work on local issues includes adjournment debates on: orthopaedic waiting times in Norfolk; the lack of school transport services in North Norfolk; police funding in Norfolk; funding for Further Education Colleges; the provision of care for people with dementia; and coastal erosion. Norman has been Lib Dem Deputy Spokesperson for International Development (2001-02), a Treasury spokesman (2002-03), PPS (Parliamentary Private Secretary) to Charles Kennedy (2003-05) and Shadow Trade and Industry Secretary (2005-06). He was a principal author of the party's policy on Royal Mail. From March to December 2006, Norman was Chief of Staff for party leader Sir Menzies Campbell.

In December 2006 he was appointed Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary. He has a particular interest in Africa: he has led Adjournment Debates on the HIV/AIDS crisis facing Africa and Asia, the controversial sale of military air traffic control system in Tanzania and the situation in the Great Lakes region of Africa.

Dr. Derek Pheby - Senior Fellow, University of Hull

Epidemiological Research and the ME Observatory plus Factors involved in the development of Severe ME

Dr Jonathan Kerr

Jonathan Kerr qualified in medicine from Queen’s University of Belfast (1987), and completed training as a medical microbiologist (1995). He has worked as a microbiologist in Belfast, Manchester and London, taking up post as a Consultant Senior Lecturer in Microbiology at Royal Brompton Hospital / Imperial College in June 2001, and then Sir Joseph Hotung Clinical Senior Lecturer in Inflammation at St George’s University of London in 2005. His interest in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) began during a study of the consequences of parvovirus B19 infection, when he showed that a percentage of infected cases developed CFS which persisted for several years. He is now the principal investigator in a programme of research in CFS. This involves development of a diagnostic test using mass spectrometry, analysis of human and viral gene expression in the white blood cells, and clinical trials of immunomodulatory drugs. Dr. Jonathan Kerr and colleagues at St. George’s University of London reported in the July 27, 2005 issue of the Journal of Clinical Pathology that a preliminary study of 25 CFS patients and 25 matched healthy controls revealed abnormalities in 35 of 9,522 genes analyzed using microarray technology. Polymerase chain reaction studies showed the same results for 16 of these genes. The study, and its results, raises some important questions. The first of which pertains to the need for funding of microbiological CFS research. He leads a group of 5 scientists at St George's.

His research on gene expression has resulted in several published papers – including evidence of 7 distinct sub types of ME/CFS.

Dr. Kerr also runs a ME/CFS research program. He studied the consequences of parvovirus B19 infection in ME/CFS and showed that a percentage of infected cases developed ME/CFS which persisted for several years. He has reported 88 human genes whose dysregulation is associated with CFS, and which can be used to derive genomic CFS subtypes which have marked differences in clinical phenotype and severity.

Other Links

• .............

Professor De Meirleir is a professor of Physiology and Internal Medicine at Free University of Brussels in Belgium. He is co-editor of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Biological Approach, co-editor of the Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and reviewer for more than 10 other medical journals. Dr. De Meirleir was one of four international experts on the panel that developed the Canadian Consensus Document for ME/CFS. He assesses/treats 3,000 to 4,000 ME/CFS patients annually. Professor Kenny L. De Meirleir, MD received his medical degree at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Magna cum laude. His research activities in Chronic Fatigue date back to 1990. His other research activities in exercise physiology, metabolism and endocrinology have led to the Solvay Prize and the NATO research award. He is director of the Human Performance Laboratory and Fatigue Clinic at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, as well as consultant in the Division of Cardiology and director of the cardiac rehabilitation program at Vrijie Universiteit Brussel.

Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuroimmune Diseases, Reno, Nevada, USA

Founder and President of the Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuroimmune Diseases, Reno, Nevada, USA.
The Institute is located on the medical campus of the University of Nevada. Its mission is to serve those with complex neuro-immune diseases such as ME/CFS, viral induced central nervous system dysfunction and fibromyalgia. Annette Whittemore graduated in Elementary and Special Education at the University of Nevada and taught children with neuro-cognitive deficits, such as those found in autism, ADD, and learning disabilities. As the president and director of the current operations at the Institute Annette supports the basic and clinical research program, and actively recruits physicians and other support personnel for the Institute.

Dr Daniel L. Peterson, Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuroimmune Diseases, Reno, Nevada, USA

Daniel L. Peterson, M.D., is an internist in Incline Village, Nevada and recognized medical expert on CFS/ME. Dr. Peterson is founder of Simmaron Research, and serves on its Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Peterson has devoted 25 years of his clinical career to diagnosing and caring for patients with CFS/ME and related neuroimmune disorders, and collaborating with researchers to better understand the illness. Dr. Peterson’s repository of more than 1,000 patient biological samples and records is a rich resource for research studies. His experience as both a clinician and a research collaborator provides a unique perspective on CFS/ME for developing translational science.

With over 25 years of medical practice, Dr Daniel L. Peterson has become a sought-after internist for diagnosing difficult and complex medical cases.

When several patients in Incline Village became ill with symptoms that resembled persistent mononucleosis, Daniel Peterson was one of the first physicians to recognize an outbreak of what is known as ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS). He became a pioneering physician and researcher in understanding the biological characteristics and methods for diagnosing, managing and treating ME/CFS. He has also performed major studies of Ampligen as a treatment for ME/CFS, and studying the possible role of human herpes virus 6 (HHV-6) in CFS patients.

Dr. Peterson's experience as both a clinician and a research collaborator provides a unique perspective on CFS/ME for developing translational science.

Other Links

• Wikipedia - Dr Daniel Peterson

Dr. Vance Spence - Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Medicine,University of Dundee Medical School, UK

Dr. Spence is a graduate of the Universities of London and Dundee. He was a Principal Clinical Scientist responsible for vascular services and research and, in 1997, he rejoined the University of Dundee Medical School as Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Medicine.

Professor Malcolm Hooper

Professor Malcolm Hooper is Emeritus Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Sunderland and chaired many of the initial Invest in ME Research International ME Conferences.

Professor Hooper is an internationally-renowned expert on ME/CFS and a tireless campaigner for patients' rights.

Professor Hooper has previously chaired Invest in ME conferences and participates in The Hooper Interviews - interviews with conference speakers at the Invest in ME Conference.

Professor Hooper graduated from University of London and had held appointments at Sunderland Technical College, Sunderland Polytechnic and the University of Sunderland, where he was made Emeritus Professor of Medicinal Chemistry in 1993.
He has served at many UK universities as well as in India and Tanzania.
He has inaugurated links with Indian research institutions and universities and celebrated 25 years of productive and on-going links which have, particularly, involved the design and development of new drugs for tropical diseases and an exploration of natural products associated with Ayurvedic medicine. He has published some 50 papers in peer-reviewed journals in the field of medicinal chemistry together with major reviews on the Chemotherapy of Leprosy, the Chemistry of Isatogens. Edited one book on the Chemotherapy of Tropical Diseases.
He acted as a referee for a number of important journals and served on one editorial board. He has served on committees of the Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC).

Professor Hooper is a member of a number of learned bodies, including the Royal Chemical Society, the British Pharmacological Society and the Society for Drug Research (SDR), now renamed the Society for Medicines Research, where he has served on the committee for 12 years and served as Chairman for 2 years.
This involved the planning and organising of major national and international conferences. He was appointed Chief Scientific Advisor to the Gulf Veterans Association (GVA) and accepted by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) as their nominee on the Independent Panel established to consider the possible interactions between Vaccines and NAPS tablets.
He has also served on the Gulf Support Group convened at the Royal British Legion. His involvement with the GVA brought contact with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalegic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/M.E.) and related disorders. Gulf War Illness/Syndrome (GWI/S) has much in common with M.E./CFS.
He is Patron of the Sunderland and South Shields M.E. Association and a member of the Newcastle Research Group, which includes eminent physicians and scientists performing research in to CFS/M.E., where one recent aspect has been the identification of organochlorine pesticide poisoning being misdiagnosed as M.E./CFS. He has addressed meetings of the Pesticide Exchange Network and consulted to the Organo-Phosphate Information Network (OPIN).
He worked with the Autism Research Unit (ARU) at the University of Sunderland for over 20 years, leading to involvement in biochemical studies to offer help, support and treatment for people with autism. This has also lead to research and urine-analysis of Indolyl-Acroyl-Glycine (IAG), which is an unusual metabolite found in excess of 90% of people examined in different groups of GWV, M.E./CFS and Organo-Phosphate (OP) poisoning sufferers. He served on the General Synod of the Church of England from 1970 to 1980 and he is a Christian Lay Leader, Preacher and Teacher.
He is currently involved in three environmental campaigns: Toxic waste dumping, including campaign against sewage in the sea presenting to the Select Committee on Sewage Treatment and Disposal GWI/S, presenting to the Defence Select Committee M.E./CFS and OP/Pesticide poisoning

Other Links

• Tribute to Dr. Bruce Carruthers
• Magical  Medicine - HOW TO MAKE A DISEASE DISAPPEAR

Ellen Piro, President of the Norwegian ME Forening

Ellen Piro is the president of the Norwegian M.E. Association. In 1995 she circulated a worldwide petition to get the CFS name changed and she personally brought it to the Dublin CFS conference to urge the scientists to make a change. Recently Ellen has been involved in the investigation into the use of meningitis vaccines in Norway and New Zealand and which has ben connected with the cases of over 250 ME patients. She has also contributed to the debate on the Norwegian equivalent of the NICE guidelines.

Dr. Byron Hyde

Dr. Byron Hyde attended the Haileybury School of Mines and worked as a geophysicist. He then did premedicine in the Faculty of Medicine and University College, University of Toronto, obtaining a degree in chemistry and nutrition. He graduated in medicine from the University of Ottawa where he was the Director and Chief of the International Exchange Program for the Canadian Association of Medical Students and Interns (CAMSI). Dr. Hyde founded the International Summer School in Tropical Medicine. He interned at Hotel Dieu in Montreal, was a resident at St. Justine Hospital in Montreal and at the Ottawa Civic Hospital. He also studied in Munich at the University Kinderklinik and in Paris at the Necker Hospital for Children.

He was a research chemist at the Roscoe B. Jackson Laboratory at Bar Harbour, Maine, a leading world laboratory in immunological research. Following this, he was Chief Technician in charge of the Electron Microscope Laboratory in Toronto at the Hospital for Sick Children, followed by a similar post at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Hyde has authored a book on Electron Microscopy and two non-medical books.

Dr. Hyde has been a physician for 25 years and has performed charitable work as a physician in Laos and the Caribbean. He held the position of Chairman of the Ottawa Community Health Services Association, and is presently Chairman of The Nightingale Research Foundation. In 1984, Dr. Hyde began the full-time study of the disease process then known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (renamed in 1986 by Dr. Gary Holmes in the USA to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome).

He has worked exclusively with M.E./CFS patients since 1985. In 1988, Dr. Hyde organized an association and founded The Nightingale Research Foundation, dedicated to the study of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. He has also acted as Chairman of the 1990 Cambridge Easter Symposium and of the Workshop on Canadian Research Directions for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic fatigue Syndrome in May, 1991, at the University of British Columbia. (the above was extracted from the Nightingale Foundation.)

Other Links

• Nightingale Research Foundation

Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuroimmune Diseases, Reno, Nevada, USA

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Dr. Abhijit Chaudhuri

Dr. Vance Spence - Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Medicine,University of Dundee Medical School, UK

Dr. Spence is a graduate of the Universities of London and Dundee. He was a Principal Clinical Scientist responsible for vascular services and research and, in 1997, he rejoined the University of Dundee Medical School as Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Medicine.

Dr Sarah Myhill - GP, UK

Dr. Myhill is a general practitioner with a particular interest in chronic fatigue syndrome. She qualified from Middlesex Hospital Medical School with honours in 1981 and has worked in the NHS and in private practice. Dr. Myhill has consulted over 100 farmers with CFS following organophosphate poisoning and 100 women with CFS following silicone poisoning either from breast implants or injection. Over the past twenty years Dr. Myhill estimates to have seen over 1,500 cases of chronic fatigue syndrome largely caused by viral infection. During the early years she reported these cases individually to the Medical Devices Agency.

Professor De Meirleir is a professor of Physiology and Internal Medicine at Free University of Brussels in Belgium. He is co-editor of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Biological Approach, co-editor of the Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and reviewer for more than 10 other medical journals. Dr. De Meirleir was one of four international experts on the panel that developed the Canadian Consensus Document for ME/CFS. He assesses/treats 3,000 to 4,000 ME/CFS patients annually. Professor Kenny L. De Meirleir, MD received his medical degree at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Magna cum laude. His research activities in Chronic Fatigue date back to 1990. His other research activities in exercise physiology, metabolism and endocrinology have led to the Solvay Prize and the NATO research award. He is director of the Human Performance Laboratory and Fatigue Clinic at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, as well as consultant in the Division of Cardiology and director of the cardiac rehabilitation program at Vrijie Universiteit Brussel.

Dr. Byron Hyde

Dr. Byron Hyde attended the Haileybury School of Mines and worked as a geophysicist. He then did premedicine in the Faculty of Medicine and University College, University of Toronto, obtaining a degree in chemistry and nutrition. He graduated in medicine from the University of Ottawa where he was the Director and Chief of the International Exchange Program for the Canadian Association of Medical Students and Interns (CAMSI). Dr. Hyde founded the International Summer School in Tropical Medicine. He interned at Hotel Dieu in Montreal, was a resident at St. Justine Hospital in Montreal and at the Ottawa Civic Hospital. He also studied in Munich at the University Kinderklinik and in Paris at the Necker Hospital for Children.

He was a research chemist at the Roscoe B. Jackson Laboratory at Bar Harbour, Maine, a leading world laboratory in immunological research. Following this, he was Chief Technician in charge of the Electron Microscope Laboratory in Toronto at the Hospital for Sick Children, followed by a similar post at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Hyde has authored a book on Electron Microscopy and two non-medical books.

Dr. Hyde has been a physician for 25 years and has performed charitable work as a physician in Laos and the Caribbean. He held the position of Chairman of the Ottawa Community Health Services Association, and is presently Chairman of The Nightingale Research Foundation. In 1984, Dr. Hyde began the full-time study of the disease process then known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (renamed in 1986 by Dr. Gary Holmes in the USA to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome).

He has worked exclusively with M.E./CFS patients since 1985. In 1988, Dr. Hyde organized an association and founded The Nightingale Research Foundation, dedicated to the study of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. He has also acted as Chairman of the 1990 Cambridge Easter Symposium and of the Workshop on Canadian Research Directions for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic fatigue Syndrome in May, 1991, at the University of British Columbia. (the above was extracted from the Nightingale Foundation.)

Other Links

• Nightingale Research Foundation

Dr Jonathan Kerr

Jonathan Kerr qualified in medicine from Queen’s University of Belfast (1987), and completed training as a medical microbiologist (1995). He has worked as a microbiologist in Belfast, Manchester and London, taking up post as a Consultant Senior Lecturer in Microbiology at Royal Brompton Hospital / Imperial College in June 2001, and then Sir Joseph Hotung Clinical Senior Lecturer in Inflammation at St George’s University of London in 2005. His interest in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) began during a study of the consequences of parvovirus B19 infection, when he showed that a percentage of infected cases developed CFS which persisted for several years. He is now the principal investigator in a programme of research in CFS. This involves development of a diagnostic test using mass spectrometry, analysis of human and viral gene expression in the white blood cells, and clinical trials of immunomodulatory drugs. Dr. Jonathan Kerr and colleagues at St. George’s University of London reported in the July 27, 2005 issue of the Journal of Clinical Pathology that a preliminary study of 25 CFS patients and 25 matched healthy controls revealed abnormalities in 35 of 9,522 genes analyzed using microarray technology. Polymerase chain reaction studies showed the same results for 16 of these genes. The study, and its results, raises some important questions. The first of which pertains to the need for funding of microbiological CFS research. He leads a group of 5 scientists at St George's.

His research on gene expression has resulted in several published papers – including evidence of 7 distinct sub types of ME/CFS.

Dr. Kerr also runs a ME/CFS research program. He studied the consequences of parvovirus B19 infection in ME/CFS and showed that a percentage of infected cases developed ME/CFS which persisted for several years. He has reported 88 human genes whose dysregulation is associated with CFS, and which can be used to derive genomic CFS subtypes which have marked differences in clinical phenotype and severity.

Other Links

• .............

Dr Daniel L. Peterson, Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuroimmune Diseases, Reno, Nevada, USA

Daniel L. Peterson, M.D., is an internist in Incline Village, Nevada and recognized medical expert on CFS/ME. Dr. Peterson is founder of Simmaron Research, and serves on its Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Peterson has devoted 25 years of his clinical career to diagnosing and caring for patients with CFS/ME and related neuroimmune disorders, and collaborating with researchers to better understand the illness. Dr. Peterson’s repository of more than 1,000 patient biological samples and records is a rich resource for research studies. His experience as both a clinician and a research collaborator provides a unique perspective on CFS/ME for developing translational science.

With over 25 years of medical practice, Dr Daniel L. Peterson has become a sought-after internist for diagnosing difficult and complex medical cases.

When several patients in Incline Village became ill with symptoms that resembled persistent mononucleosis, Daniel Peterson was one of the first physicians to recognize an outbreak of what is known as ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS). He became a pioneering physician and researcher in understanding the biological characteristics and methods for diagnosing, managing and treating ME/CFS. He has also performed major studies of Ampligen as a treatment for ME/CFS, and studying the possible role of human herpes virus 6 (HHV-6) in CFS patients.

Dr. Peterson's experience as both a clinician and a research collaborator provides a unique perspective on CFS/ME for developing translational science.

Other Links

• Wikipedia - Dr Daniel Peterson

Professor Malcolm Hooper

Professor Malcolm Hooper is Emeritus Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Sunderland and chaired many of the initial Invest in ME Research International ME Conferences.

Professor Hooper is an internationally-renowned expert on ME/CFS and a tireless campaigner for patients' rights.

Professor Hooper has previously chaired Invest in ME conferences and participates in The Hooper Interviews - interviews with conference speakers at the Invest in ME Conference.

Professor Hooper graduated from University of London and had held appointments at Sunderland Technical College, Sunderland Polytechnic and the University of Sunderland, where he was made Emeritus Professor of Medicinal Chemistry in 1993.
He has served at many UK universities as well as in India and Tanzania.
He has inaugurated links with Indian research institutions and universities and celebrated 25 years of productive and on-going links which have, particularly, involved the design and development of new drugs for tropical diseases and an exploration of natural products associated with Ayurvedic medicine. He has published some 50 papers in peer-reviewed journals in the field of medicinal chemistry together with major reviews on the Chemotherapy of Leprosy, the Chemistry of Isatogens. Edited one book on the Chemotherapy of Tropical Diseases.
He acted as a referee for a number of important journals and served on one editorial board. He has served on committees of the Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC).

Professor Hooper is a member of a number of learned bodies, including the Royal Chemical Society, the British Pharmacological Society and the Society for Drug Research (SDR), now renamed the Society for Medicines Research, where he has served on the committee for 12 years and served as Chairman for 2 years.
This involved the planning and organising of major national and international conferences. He was appointed Chief Scientific Advisor to the Gulf Veterans Association (GVA) and accepted by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) as their nominee on the Independent Panel established to consider the possible interactions between Vaccines and NAPS tablets.
He has also served on the Gulf Support Group convened at the Royal British Legion. His involvement with the GVA brought contact with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalegic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/M.E.) and related disorders. Gulf War Illness/Syndrome (GWI/S) has much in common with M.E./CFS.
He is Patron of the Sunderland and South Shields M.E. Association and a member of the Newcastle Research Group, which includes eminent physicians and scientists performing research in to CFS/M.E., where one recent aspect has been the identification of organochlorine pesticide poisoning being misdiagnosed as M.E./CFS. He has addressed meetings of the Pesticide Exchange Network and consulted to the Organo-Phosphate Information Network (OPIN).
He worked with the Autism Research Unit (ARU) at the University of Sunderland for over 20 years, leading to involvement in biochemical studies to offer help, support and treatment for people with autism. This has also lead to research and urine-analysis of Indolyl-Acroyl-Glycine (IAG), which is an unusual metabolite found in excess of 90% of people examined in different groups of GWV, M.E./CFS and Organo-Phosphate (OP) poisoning sufferers. He served on the General Synod of the Church of England from 1970 to 1980 and he is a Christian Lay Leader, Preacher and Teacher.
He is currently involved in three environmental campaigns: Toxic waste dumping, including campaign against sewage in the sea presenting to the Select Committee on Sewage Treatment and Disposal GWI/S, presenting to the Defence Select Committee M.E./CFS and OP/Pesticide poisoning

Other Links

• Tribute to Dr. Bruce Carruthers
• Magical  Medicine - HOW TO MAKE A DISEASE DISAPPEAR

Questions to the speakers on Day 2 of the conference.

The Gibson Inquiry 2006

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Dr. Ian Gibson MP for Norwich North called for an independent inquiry into Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and set up a working group.

Read more of the

Inquiry into the status of status of CFS/M.E. and M.E. and research into research into causes and treatment

- click here

Dr Nigel Speight

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Dr Nigel Speight was a consultant paediatrician in Durham for over 25 years. He has seen a large number of cases of childhood ME in his own area and has frequently been called on to support cases of where children have been treated poorly by social and healthcare services. He has played a major role in rescuing children from care proceedings and is well qualified to comment on the state of treatment of ME patients. Dr Speight presented at the 2nd Invest in ME Research International ME Conference 2007 in London and gave the pre-conference dinner keynote speech at the 9th Invest in ME Research International ME COnference in 2014. He is considered to be one of the most experienced ME consultants in the UK.

Further Information

Read more of the

The General Medical Council - Dr Nigel Speight

- click here