Connections, study contact info

One of the highlights of (most) meetings is the opportunity for connecting with people. Such was the case with the IACFS/ME conference held last week in San Francisco.

(There have been some excellent summaries of the IACFS/ME conference — among them: http://phoenixrising.me/archives/24323 , http://phoenixrising.me/archives/24390 , http://phoenixrising.me/archives/24452 , http://phoenixrising.me/archives/24522 , http://phoenixrising.me/archives/24553 , and http://quixoticmeblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/detailed-notes-from-all-4-days-of.html .)

Over and over people talked about how they had exchanged emails with this person or that person for years but had never met in person until this meeting.
ME is such a horribly isolating illness. Even caregivers are often isolated.

Therefore being able to meet other advocates in person, being able to exchange ideas with clinicians/researchers, etc. is exciting and invigorating (and exhausting).

Among the people I spoke with was Dr. Jim Baraniuk who has a study that will start soon (he did not say when). He provided the following contact info for it:

Exercise and Brain Scan Study
Purpose: to understand Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)
Who: Adults (over 18 years old) with and without CFS are invited to participate.

What: Subjects will have magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans then bicycle exercise tests.
They will stay overnight, then have a 2nd exercise test and MRI the next day.

Where: Clinical Research Unit, Georgetown University, Washington D.C.
Compensation for time and travel will be paid.

Contacts: Telephone 202-687-8231, FAX 202-687-9886

E-mail:cfsresearch@georgetown.edu or baraniuklab@gmail.com
Georgetown University Medical Center (edit *)

When you contact the lab you might ask (among other things) for clarification about the extent of the bicycle exercise testing, the criteria for patient selection, whether or not any cognitive testing will be done as well (if so, at which points during the study). Please share the responses you get and help us make them widely available.

Many of us came away from the IACFS/ME conference with information on numerous studies and avenues of exploration, getting lots of ideas, hearing hints about soon-to-be-published studies and great connections (some new ones, some long-standing ones but first time in-person meetings)…..

This was a real treat and I am deeply grateful to everyone who helped facilitate attendance at the meeting.

 

(*edited  – disclaimer – I have no connection to and accept no responsibility for the study or participation in it. Thanks for the reminder TK.)