FRIDAY, JAN 11 - LIVE CHAT Q&A with ME/CFS researcher NANCY KLIMAS, MD – 3 to 4 pm PST (6 to 7 pm EST)

Dr. Klimas is recognized worldwide for her work at the University of Miami (FL) to expand our understanding of ME/CFS/FM and Gulf War Illness, and for her unceasing efforts to share that knowledge with physicians and policy makers. Dr. Klimas is, for example:

n Professor of Medicine-Psychology, Microbiology & Immunology at the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine and Miami VA Medical Center.

To read Dr. Klimas's succinct explanation of the basic mechanisms of ME/CFS - and learn how she decided to focus on CFS research more than 20 years ago - see “University of Miami ME/CFS Researcher Nancy Klimas, MD, Explains Complexity of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in Terms That Anybody Can Understand.”

n Director of the Miller School's EM Papper Laboratories of Clinical Immunology and VA Gulf War Illness and ME/CFS Research Center. Her current studies include:

n President of the International Association of CFS/ME (IACFS/ME) - a global organization of ME/CFS clinical & research scientists.

See "The Need for Treatment Guidelines" - Dr. Klimas's recent announcement that "The IACFS/ME will sponsor the development of treatment guidelines." She notes that "In the USA, more than 80% of CFS/ME patients have not found a provider expert enough to make a diagnosis, let alone treat their illness. It is a gaping hole in our health care system, and is true across the globe. Our patients are falling into this chasm. The lack of providers with any training in this field guarantees that this will remain the single biggest issue facing our patients. As investigators, it deprives us of our subject population and skews the population we do study to those patients who can overcome the barriers of our health care systems to seek expert care. All in all, this is simply unacceptable."

n A founding editor of the Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and author of more than 120 peer reviewed articles and 3 books.

One of Dr. Klimas's most recent publications - "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Inflammation, immune function, and neuroendocrine interactions" - summarizes important international ME/CFS research advances achieved during 2007.

Another recent article, "Impaired natural immunity, cognitive dystunction, and physical symptoms in patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Preliminary evidence for a subgroup," supports consideration of Natural Killer cell activity as a subgroup marker in ME/CFS. NK cells play a major role in the body's rejection of cells infected by viruses.

Dr. Klimas examines brain and immune system responses to emotional and physical stressors, and the impact of brain-immune interactions in "Psychoneuroimmunology and Fatigue" - part of a book titled Fatigue as a Window to the Brain (2005).

And in 1997 Dr. Klimas edited a collection of articles titled ">"Disability and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Clinical, Legal and Patient Perspectives" that included contributions by ME/CFS doctor Daniel Peterson, MD, legal experts, and patients.

n A leader in efforts to create ME/CFS/FM educational curricula for healthcare professionals.

n A member of the CFS Name Change Advisory Board, which proposed that the name for 'Chronic Fatigue Syndrome' be changed to the acronym ME/CFS - and now a member of the Campaign for a Fair Name's http://www.afairname.org Fair Name Implementation Committee.