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For many people, FM and CFS/ME remain a mystery. It's only through the efforts of doctors
and researchers that we've been able to reveal what we know thus far about these
debilitating illnesses. This section spotlights some of the top people who are involved
in FM and/or CFS/ME research. Select the doctor you'd like to learn more about by
clicking their name in the list below.
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Medical Researchers (in alphabetical order)
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R. Paul St. Amand, M.D.
Graduate of Tufts University School of Medicine. He has been on the teaching staff at
the Los Angeles Harbor/UCLA Hospital, Department of Endocrinology for over 43 years.
He is currently an assistant clinical professor at the UCLA School of Medicine.
Dr. St. Amand is a professor of endocrinology and has been in private practice for over
40 years. Dr. St. Amand discovered guaifenesin's use as a treatment for fibromyalgia,
and his work is cited wherever the substance is mentioned.
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Daniel J. Clauw, M.D.
Doctorate in Rheumatology, 1990, from Georgetown University Medical Center.
Professor, Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan. He has
served on the faculty at Michigan University since April 8, 2003.
Dr. Daniel J. Clauw oversees a multidisciplinary group that performs both mechanistic
studies and clinical trials in overlapping conditions characterized by chronic pain
and fatigue, including fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and Gulf War Illnesses.
Dr. Clauw has been the P. I. of NIH and Department of Defense grants studying this spectrum
of illness continuously since 1994. The Center currently has several million dollars per
year in federal funding to study these disorders. Dr. Clauw and his group have
been instrumental in establishing that the systemic conditions noted above, and regional
pain syndromes such as interstitial cystitis, low back pain, and irritable bowel
syndrome all have common pathogenic and clinical features.
One of the primary areas of interest of his group has been in studying sensory processing
in these conditions, and in demonstrating that many patients with these conditions have
a widespread disturbance in pain processing. Current work is establishing the nature of
the central pain processing abnormality in these conditions, using a variety of
approaches, including functional MRI. Dr. Clauw also directs the Center for the Advancement
of Clinical Research (CACR) at the University of Michigan. The CACR provides
infrastructure and support for clinical and translational research for the Medical School
from protocol development through subject recruitment, performance, and monitoring of
study conduct, to data management and analysis.
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Garry F. Gordon, M.D.
Dr. Garry F. Gordon received his Doctor of Osteopathy in 1958 from the Chicago College
of Osteopathy in Illinois. He received his honorary MD degree from the University
of California Irvine in 1962 and completed his Radiology Residency from Mt. Zion in
San Francisco, California in 1964. For many years, he was the Medical Director of
Mineral Lab in Hayward, California, a leading laboratory for trace mineral analysis
worldwide.
Dr. Gordon is on the Board of Homeopathic Medical Examiners for Arizona and is Co-Founder
of the American College for Advancement in Medicine (ACAM). He is Founder/President of
the International College of Advanced Longevity (ICALM) and Board Member of
International Oxidative Medicine Association (IOMA).
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Leonard A. Jason, PhD
B. A. in Psychology from Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, 1971. Ph.D.
in Clinical/Community Psychology from the University of Rochester, Rochester, New York,
1975. Dr. Jason is Director of the Center for Community Research at De Paul University.
In 2001, the Center for Community Research was established at De Paul University to
provide permanent, dedicated space for externally funded research projects and
to house research projects of colleagues associated with their work from Psychology and
related disciplines.
Currently their grants are from NIH (NIDA, NIAID, NCI) and are devoted to CFS epidemiology,
Smoking Prevention, and Oxford House evaluations. They believe that this is a service to
De Paul University and the Psychology Department, as their grant activity brings in
considerable resources to the university and helps support graduate students. In addition,
there are many undergraduate volunteers for these projects, and frequently they are able to
hire these students to become full time research assistants, which prepares them for future
graduate studies.
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Charles Lapp, M.D.
B. A. and M.A. in Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N. Y. Earned
his M.D. degree from Albany Medical College, NY, in 1974. Dr. Lapp completed residencies
in both adult (internal) medicine and pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill.
Dr. Lapp has maintained a private practice of medicine and pediatrics in Raleigh, NC.
since 1978. Following three small epidemics of a chronic fatiguing illness in the
Raleigh area, Dr. Lapp began collaborating with Dr. Paul Cheney in 1987, and from 1992
to 1995. Dr. Lapp acted as Medical Director of the Cheney Clinic in Charlotte. In
August 1995, Dr. Lapp opened a Charlotte office for general medical consultations,
with special interests in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and related conditions.
Academically, Dr. Lapp has been elected to Tau Beta Pi (the engineering equivalent of Phi
Beta Kappa) and was a Richard T. Beebe Scholar of Medicine; he has been on the
clinical faculty at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, was a
pediatrics instructor at Wake Medical Center (Raleigh), and has continued as
Clinical Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine at Duke University since
1982. He is a diplomat of the American Board of Internal Medicine as well as the
American Board of Pediatrics; he is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics,
the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Academy of Disability
Evaluating Physicians.
In September 2003, Dr. Lapp was appointed by DHHS Secretary Tommy Thompson to serve on the
CFS Advisory Committee. This committee meets in Washington quarterly to provide expert
advice and recommendations to the Secretary of Health and Human Services on a broad range
of issues and topics pertaining to chronic fatigue syndrome.
Dr. Lapp is nationally recognized as a medical consultant to industry and the
medical profession. He has written numerous articles on diverse subjects, and has
spoken widely, especially concerning Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia. He is
active in both civic and professional activities, the state and county medical societies,
as well as the American Medical Association and the Academy of Family Physicians. He is
an active Rotarian, former president of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and as a
Jaycee was nominated Outstanding Man of the Year in 1983. In 1985, the Department of
Family and Community Medicine at Duke University voted him Clinical Professor of the
Year. Dr. Lapp is a board member of the American Association for CFS and the
American Fibromyalgia Syndrome Association, advisor to ProHealth Incorporated, medical
advisor to the CFIDS Association of America and a member of the Scientific Advisory
Council.
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John C. Lowe, M.D.
Dr. Lowe holds B. A. and M.A. degrees in research-oriented general psychology from
the University of West Florida. He also holds a B. S. degree in human biology and a
doctorate in chiropractic from the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic, now the
Southern California University of Health Sciences. He formerly taught psychology at the
Miami Dade Community College and was a faculty member in the Clinical Sciences Division
of the Texas Chiropractic College. Dr. John C. Lowe, a fibromyalgia, thyroid, and
metabolism researcher, is a board certified pain management specialist.
As Director of Research for the Fibromyalgia Research Foundation, he has spearheaded
the scientific study of two related subjects: the metabolic causes of fibromyalgia, and
the relief of fibromyalgia symptoms through the treatment approach he developed and
named "metabolic rehabilitation." He is author of the internationally acclaimed book,
The Metabolic Treatment of Fibromyalgia, considered by many to be the most
important document ever published on fibromyalgia. He has authored more than 140
articles, scientific papers, and book chapters. His writings have appeared in many of the
top medical journals.
In 1995, one of Dr. Lowe's patients who had recovered from their fibromyalgia symptoms
through his metabolic approach convinced him to established the Fibromyalgia
Research Foundation (FRF). The three purposes of this 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
are to: (1) support scientific studies of the metabolic treatment of fibromyalgia
patients; (2) determine the underlying molecular mechanisms of fibromyalgia; and (3)
educate fibromyalgia patients, health care practitioners, researchers, and the general
public about the findings of FRF-sponsored research.
Currently, Dr. Lowe and his multidisciplinary research team are studying the metabolic
rates of fibromyalgia patients. In two studies that will soon be published, he and
his colleagues found that fibromyalgia patients have abnormally low metabolic rates
compared to healthy controls. Results of these studies vindicate Dr. Lowe's hypothesis
that fibromyalgia patients are hypometabolic, and that the most likely mechanism is too
little thyroid hormone regulation.
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Richard Podell, M.D.
A graduate of Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Podell
is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and in Family Medicine. A Clinical Professor at
New Jersey's Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Dr. Podell serves as co-host of the
Willner's Window Health and Nutrition Show on New York City's WOR Radio (710 AM).
Richard N. Podell, M.D., M.P.H., Medical Director and Clinical Professor, Department
of Family Medicine, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
Dr. Podell is one of the nation's leading experts on the scientific integration
of complementary and alternative therapies with conventional medicine. He also has
special interest and expertise in clinical nutrition, behavioral medicine, and the diseases
of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia.
The New Jersey Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Association presented Dr. Podell with
their outstanding Achievement Award for the year 2002. Dr. Podell serves as
Principal Investigator of a Food and Drug Administration approved Phase III clinical
trial on the use of Ampligen, an investigational drug for the treatment of Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome. He is a member of the expert panel on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for the
New Jersey State Department of Health and the New Jersey Academy of Medicine. He is a
member of the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Association, the International Myopain Society,
the American College of Nutrition and the American Medical Association.
Dr. Podell has been an invited author for Fibromyalgia Network, a major
patient-advocacy support group. Dr. Podell has served as one of the main preceptors
for Robert Wood Johnson Medical School's required third year course on nutritional
and holistic medicine. Dr. Podell has received teaching awards from the family
practice residents at Overlook Hospital and from the medical student organization at
New Jersey Medical School.
Dr. Podell is on the scientific advisory board of Healthnotes, one of the leading
educational resources for the scientific evaluation of nutrition and herbal therapies.
He was contributing editor for Nutrition Science News, and was the regular columnist
on nutrition for the journal Postgraduate Medicine. Dr. Podell has published 45
peer-review journal articles, and patient education essays in Bottom Line Personal,
Bottom Line Health, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, Men's Health and other magazines.
He has appeared as a medical expert on Good Morning America, the Today Show and CBS'
Morning Show. Dr. Podell is an attending physician at Overlook Hospital, Summit, NJ.
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Jacob Teitelbaum, M.D.
Dr. Teitelbaum is a board certified internist and Medical Director of the
national Fibromyalgia and Fatigue Centers, Inc. He is the author of the perennial
best-seller From Fatigued to Fantastic!, which has sold over 500,000 copies. The 3rd
revised edition from Avery/Penguin Group USA publishes on October 4, 2007.
In Pain Free 1-2-3 (McGraw-Hill, April 2006), Dr. Teitelbaum outlines a step-by-step
program that can help anyone identify the source of pain and understand how to alleviate
it. Three Steps to Happiness: Healing Through Joy (Deva Press 2003), provides a blueprint
for creating and maintaining a natural state of happiness and vitality at any time.
Dr. Teitelbaum lectures to patient, physician and research groups internationally. He is
the lead author of groundbreaking "gold standard" research on effective treatment for
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia, which was published in the Journal of
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, volume 8, number 2 in 2001.
In April 2002, he was editorialized in the Journal of the American Academy of Pain
Management, where his integrative treatment protocol was recognized as "standard of
practice" for chronic pain conditions.
His latest study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine focused
on the effects of a unique 5-carbon sugar called D-ribose for Fibromyalgia patients.
The research found that 2/3 of the patients studied showed improvement after only 12 days
of therapy. The average increase in energy was 45 percent, with an average 30
percent improvement in well-being. Corvalen, a proprietary D-ribose product of Bioenergy
Life Science, Inc., is designed to improve the metabolic health of hearts and muscles and
is used to provide nutritional support to sufferers of Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue
Syndrome (CFS), and cardiovascular disease.
Dr. Teitelbaum knows CFS/Fibromyalgia as an insider -- he contracted Chronic Fatigue
Syndrome when he was in medical school and had to drop out for a year to recover. In
the ensuing 25 years, he dedicated his career to finding effective treatment.
His web site (http://www.endfatigue.com) contains a sophisticated computer
program, which can analyze and create a complete medical record of a patient's case to
help patients and physicians determine the best course of treatment to get well.
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Muhammad B. Yunus, M.D.
Medical Training - University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, Residency Training - United
Kingdom Fellowship Training - University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worchester,
and University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria. Professor of Medicine
and Rheumatology, Internal Medicine Residency Program. Director, sophomore
musculoskeletal and connective tissue disease course; didactic Rheumatology seminar series
for residents, bedside teaching during management and teaching rounds; M3 case
reports, seminars on physical diagnosis in Rheumatology patients.
Author of over 130 articles and publications, Dr. Yunas has made significant contributions
in describing, characterizing and defining fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS), and remains active
in the research of this condition. He is particularly interested in the enuroendocrine
aspects of FMA and similar syndromes with chronic pain. He enjoys working in
investigational study design and writing, including literary writing.
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