It has taken a long time for this fruit to ripen, but thanks in large part to valiant efforts of the IACFS/ME, the International Association of CFS/ME, and influential members of their board, a major change is coming to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) where the efforts to study and make guidelines concerning Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) are controlled.
Hallelujah! A leadership change at the CDC is coming!
Just announced today, Februrary 3, 2010,
Dr. William C. Reeves will be leaving his post as head of the CFS program at CDC as of Feb. 14th to accept assignment as Senior Advisor for Mental Health Surveillance in the Public Health Surveillance Program Office. Dr. Elizabeth Unger will serve as Acting Chief, Chronic Viral Diseases Branch, which includes the CFS program.
It is no secret among CFS folks and the people who support us that we have not been pleased with the leadership of Dr. William C. Reeves. Hopefully, with the introduction of Dr. Elizabeth Unger at the helm, we will witness advancements and major leaps forward. Finally, we should see an end to the two decades of virtual stonewalling at the CDC.
Thanks, Cinda Crawford
Host of the Health Matters Show
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Sarah 02.05.10 at 9:33 am
I too was thrilled by the news that Reeves was moved out of the CDC/CFS shop. But, after several days of thinking this one over I believe that there may be a number of other reasons that Reeves moved out of the shop that had nothing to do with us CFIDS people and our 20 year efforts.
- Reeves may have asked to be moved because he was sick to death of being personally attacked and ridiculed constantly,
- Reeves may have asked to be moved to a less demanding position because either he or one of his family members is sick and he needs to reduce time and stress,
- The CDC PR and senior people may have moved Reeves as a Public Relations ruse to placate the CFIDS sick but intend on doing “business as usual”, which means we have more of the same but with a new person to fight against,
- Reeves may have been moved to another department but again, we do not know just how much input he will still have on CFIDS research especially now that he is in the mental health area. It may well be that he can do even more damage to the CFIDS sick from his new purch in the Mental Health position.
So, although we got rid of Reeves, the DEVIL we did know, we are now looking at the DEVILS we do NOT know. And the DEVIL we do know, William Reeves, may well be in a better position to damage us even more.
We can not stop watching the CDC, NIH, or the DHHS – not for one minute. A relatively small change like this may mean nothing at all. So we must continue to be on guard and fight them each and every step of the way until there is a true massive positive change at the CDC/CFS and far more funding for research than what has been given in the past. THAT will be the real litmus test of the Reeves departure. Let us see what the CDC and DHHS do. I don’t believe that Sebellius signed off on the CFSAC Recommendations yet? At no point has any DHHS Head bothered to read or sign off on those recommendations – not once. So you see, we really do have many more battles to fight.
Be happy but be very wary of the whole US Federal government health agencies – DHHS, NIH and the CDC.
Cinda Crawford 02.05.10 at 4:09 pm
Sarah, I agree with you and you put out the warning very eloquently. Thanks for your insightful input!