The Open Medicine Institute: Big Plans And A Sense Of Urgency

Imagine that you’ve just been put in charge of the world’s ME/CFS research – yes, you – and you’ve got to decide what research you want. Come on, hurry up!

Erm, erm, erm… oh yes, well, of course, as a patient you want something that’s going to get practical benefit for you in the shortest time possible. You’ve been waiting decades for treatments: you want them fast. But you’re not some medical genius so how are you going to choose what research should be done? Well, you could get the best ME/CFS researchers in the world, shove them in a room together and not let them out until they’ve come up with a list of the best, fastest-payoff, top priority projects, and… hang on a minute, somebody’s just done that.

In June 2012, the brand-new Open Medicine Institute, founded by well-known ME/CFS clinician and researcher Dr Andreas Kogelnik, held a three-day conference of leading ME/CFS researchers from all over the world. Attendees and signatories were a roll-call of our best and brightest, including Drs Klimas, Fluge and Mella, Peterson, Singh, Lapp, Bateman, Montoya, Marshall-Gradisnik, Rowe, Alan and Kathleen Light, and many more.