Leading Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Researchers Joins NSU

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One of the World's Leading Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Researchers Joins NSU

Released: 12/12/2011 10:45 AM EST

Source: Nova Southeastern University

Newswise — FT. LAUDERDALE-DAVIE Fla. — Klimas, M.D., one of the

world's leading researchers and clinicians in chronic fatigue

syndrome/myalgic encepahalomyelitis (CFS/ME), a debilitating immune

disorder that affects more than one million Americans, recently joined

Nova Southeastern University's College of Osteopathic Medicine faculty

in December.

A majority of CFS/ME sufferers are women, who remain mostly untreated.

The disease damages the patient's immune system and causes symptoms

such as extreme fatigue unabated by sleep, faintness, widespread

muscle and joint pain, sore throat, severe headaches, cognitive

difficulties, and severe mental and physical exhaustion

An expert in immune disorders, Klimas will establish the NSU College

of Osteopathic Medicine's Institute for Neuro-Immune Medicine, which

will conduct cutting-edge research and treat patients suffering from

CFS/ME and Gulf War Illness (GWI). The Institute will be located at

NSU's main campus in Davie. In the meantime, patients can continue

receiving treatment at the existing Chronic Fatigue Center in Kendall,

Fla., where Klimas is the director.

The Institute for Neuro-Immune Medicine will use the integration of

research, training, and clinical care to advance the needs of patients

suffering from CFS/ME and GWI. By bringing together some of the best

scientific minds in the world, the facility will act as both a think

tank and a working institute for the research, train new clinicians,

and provide diagnostic and therapeutic clinical care.

" The Institute for Neuro-Immune Medicine, strategically placed at Nova

Southeastern University, will bring together great minds in the field

of neuro immune disorders under one umbrella, " Klimas said. " It will

be a place to coordinate cutting edge thinking and research, train new

practitioners, and offer the highest quality clinical care for a

hugely underserved population. I am thrilled to partner with NSU in

this giant step forward in the field of CFS/ME care and research. "

" We are excited to have Dr. Klimas join our university, " said NSU

President L. Hanbury II, Ph.D. " She is an internationally

recognized authority on this debilitating disease as well as other

complex diseases and clinical immunology. "

The Chronic Fatigue Center --- one of a few centers of its kind in the

nation ---- will become a part of the NSU clinical health care system

under the auspices of the Institute for Neuro-Immune Medicine.

Klimas is also the director of research for the Clinical AIDS/HIV

research program and Gulf War Illness research program at the Miami

Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

She is a leading national researcher on Gulf War Illness. This medical

condition affects veterans and civilians who were exposed to a number

of triggers, including chemical weapons during the 1991 Gulf War.

Symptoms include musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, skin rashes, cognitive

problems, and diarrhea.

" Klimas will elevate NSU's medical research to a new level and create

opportunities for internal and external collaboration on global basis

to find cures for CFS/ME and other complex diseases, " said

Margules, Sc.D., NSU's vice president of NSU's research and technology

transfer.

CFS/ME symptoms typically last for more than six months, often

decades. Those suffering from the disease find their lives

dramatically altered to the extent that working and completing simple

tasks become difficult or impossible.

Klimas currently serves as a senior member of the Chronic Fatigue

Syndrome Advisory Committee, a role in which she provides advice and

recommendations to U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services

Kathleen Sebelius. She has served two terms as president of the

International Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and sits on

numerous boards and advisory groups.

She has published over 150 peer-reviewed scientific articles, 18 book

chapters, and three books. Many focus on CFS/ME, which has no cure and

affects 17 million people worldwide. Her research has not only

influenced health policy in the U.S., but also in Europe, Japan,

Australia, and Canada.

Klimas, who is joining NSU from the University of Miami (UM), was the

principal investigator of the National Institutes of Health's Center

for Multidisciplinary Studies of CFS Pathophysiology at UM, and is

currently funded to use genomics to better understand the cause of

persistent illness in both CFS/ME and GWI. She plans to expand this

work through the new NSU Institute for Neuro Immune Medicine.