David Tuller

David Tuller, DrPh, is academic coordinator of University of California, Berkeley's joint masters program in public health and journalism. He was a reporter and editor for ten years at the San Francisco Chronicle, served as health editor at Salon.com and frequently writes about health for The New York Times.

He's an experienced public health activist with a background as an ACT UP/NY activist which included an arrest at the Wall Street demonstration in 1987.

David Tuller covered the PACE trial results for The New York Times as health editor in February 2011. However he became concerned about the trial and wrote a further article regarding case definitions which resulted in an immediate response from the PACE trial authors which resulted him in investigating the trial and its authors further after contact with others in the patient community.

Tuller is sympathetic toward the cause of the myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) patient community. In an article in 2015 he wrote:

"In the course of my reporting, I’d realized that the disease was both devastating and widely misunderstood. People were really, really sick—some were homebound for months and years at a stretch. Yet their condition had been saddled with one of the most condescending names ever given a major illness."

Education

• 2005, Masters in Public Health from University of California, Berkeley

Talks & interviews

• May 2017 - Interview with David Tuller PhD, Dublin, May 2017

• May 31, 2017 - Virology blog Podcast: TWiV Special: Trial by Error, Continued David Tuller returns to discuss the continuing saga of the UK’s PACE trial for chronic fatigue syndrome, including the accusation that he is engaging in libelous blogging.

• Feb 20, 2017 - Chronic Fatigue: Missing Millions (Carte Blanche DSTV)

• Oct 29, 2016 - Undark Podcast #8: Worse Than the Disease Dr. Tuller discusses Graded Exercise Therapy (GET) "a therapy commonly prescribed for chronic fatigue syndrome — one for which supporting research is now unraveling."

• Aug 21, 2016 - Virology blog Podcast: TWiV 403: It’s not easy being vaccine Discussion with David Tuller regarding PACE trial at 00.17.38- 00.23.57.

• Jul 10, 2016 - Virology blog Podcast: TWiV 397: Trial by Error Dr. Tuller speaks at length and in detail about the PACE trial (calling the PACE Trial preposterous and a pack of nonsense, and a piece of crap) and FINE trial, The Lancet, British Medical Journal (BMJ) and PLOS ONE, patients being ill yet deconstructing the PACE Trial, how ME/CFS is a disease being treated inappropriately with Exercise, GET and CBT, touches on the Institute of Medicine report and SEID, Valerie Eliot Smith and Karina Hansen, and more.

• Feb 28, 2016 - Speech on PACE Trial with Q&As in Amsterdam.

• Feb 27, 2016 - Discussed the flaws of the Pace trial with Frank Twisk while in Amsterdam at The Forgotten Plague Conference.

• Feb 6, 2011 - Virology blog podcast: TWiV 119: Science and journalism with David Tuller. Dr. Tuller appeared as a guest on Vincent Racaniello's podcast.

Awards

• 2016, IACFS/ME Special Service Award - for outstanding personal effort and contribution to the CFS/ME community
• 2016, Tymes Trust Award for Scientific Journalism

Writings about ME/CFS

Virology Blog

• Jul 17, 2017 - Trial by Error: The NICE guidelines, and more on the CDC
• Jul 10, 2017 - Trial By Error: The CDC Drops CBT/GET
• Jun 28, 2017 - Trial by Error, Continued: More on Graded Exercise from Peter White and The Lancet (see GETSET trial)
• Jun 24, 2017 - Trial by Error, Continued: Is PACE a Case of Research Misconduct?
• Jun 19, 2017 - Trial by Error, Continued: University of Bristol Responds, Sort Of
• Jun 14, 2017 - Trial by Error, Continued: My Letter to the University of Bristol
• Jun 7, 2017 - Trial By Error, Continued: Julie Rehmeyer’s Journey “Through the Shadowlands”
• Jun 4, 2017 - Trial By Error, Continued: My “Tear It Up” Talk at Invest in ME
• Jun 1, 2017 - David Tuller’s Fundraiser
• May 22, 2017 - Trial By Error, Continued: ME Research UK Drops Out of CMRC
• May 15 2017 - Trial By Error, Continued: The CMRC Affirms Full Support for Libelous Esther
• May 10 2017 - Trial By Error, Continued: CMRC to Virology Blog: 'F**k Off!'
• May 8 2017 - Trial By Error, Continued: An Open Letter to the Board of the CFS/ME Research Collaborative
• May 3, 2017 - Trial By Error, Continued: My Libelous Blogging on Virology Blog
• Mar 23, 2017 - An open letter to Psychological Medicine, again!
• Mar 13, 2017 - An open letter to Psychological Medicine about “recovery” and the PACE trial
• Nov 28, 2016 - Trial By Error, Continued: A Follow-Up Post on FITNET-NHS
• Nov 21, 2016 - Trial By Error, Continued: The New FITNET Trial for Kids
• Sep 22, 2016 - Trial By Error, Continued: The Real Data
• Sep 1, 2016 - Trial By Error, Continued: My Questions for Lancet Editor Richard Horton
• Aug 29, 2016 - Once Again, Lancet Stumbles on PACE
• Feb 1, 2016 - Trial By Error, Continued: A Few Words About 'Harassment'
• Jan 19, 2016 - Trial By Error, Continued: More Nonsense from The Lancet Psychiatry
• Jan 7, 2016 - Trial By Error, Continued: Did the PACE Trial Really Prove that Graded Exercise Is Safe? (coauthored by Julie Rehmeyer)
• Jan 4, 2016 - Trial By Error, Continued: Questions for Dr. White and his PACE Colleagues
• Dec 22, 2015 - Revisiting the PLoS One economics analysis of PACE
• Dec 17, 2015 - A request for data from the PACE trial
• Nov 17, 2015 - Trial by error, Continued: PACE Team’s Work for Insurance Companies Is “Not Related” to PACE. Really?
• Nov 13, 2015 - An open letter to Dr. Richard Horton and The Lancet
• Nov 9, 2015 - Trial By Error, Continued: Why has the PACE Study’s Sister Trial been Disappeared and Forgotten?
• Nov 4, 2015 - Trial By Error, Continued: Did the PACE Study Really Adopt a ‘Strict Criterion’ for Recovery?
• Oct 30, 2015 - David Tuller responds to the PACE Investigators
• Oct 30, 2015 - PACE trial investigators respond to David Tuller
• Oct 23, 2015 - TRIAL BY ERROR: The Troubling Case of the PACE Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Study (final installment)
• Oct 22, 2015 - TRIAL BY ERROR: The Troubling Case of the PACE Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Study (second installment)
• Oct 21, 2015 - TRIAL BY ERROR: The Troubling Case of the PACE Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Study
• Nov 23, 2011 - Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and the CDC: A Long, Tangled Tale

The New York Times

• Mar 18, 2017 - Getting It Wrong on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (with Julie Rehmeyer) and Letters of response' Letters - The New York Times
• Feb 10, 2015 - Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Gets a New Name
• Nov 24, 2014 - Brains of People With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Offer Clues About Disorder - New York Times: Well (2014)
• Sep 18, 2012 - Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Back to Square 1
• Feb 6, 2012 - Fallout From Fatigue Syndrome Retraction Is Wide
• Dec 26, 2011 - Scholars Retract Another Study Linking Virus to Fatigue Syndrome
• Dec 22, 2011 - Fatigue Syndrome Study Is Retracted by Journal
• Sep 22, 2011 - Viral Theory Is Set Back in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Study
• Jun 1, 2011 - 2 Studies Examine Syndrome of Fatigue
• Mar 4, 2011 - Defining an Illness Is Fodder for Debate
• Feb 17, 2011 - Psychotherapy Eases Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Study Finds
• Jan 3, 2011 - Exhausted by Illness, and Doubts
• Aug 24, 2010 - Study Links Chronic Fatigue to Virus Class
• May 30, 2008 - Learning Firsthand About Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• May 30, 2008 - What to Ask About Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• Jul 17, 2007 - Chronic Fatigue No Longer Seen as 'Yuppie Flu'

Other print media

• Oct 27, 2016 - Worse Than the Disease Undark
• Nov 18, 2015 - Reporter Excoriates Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Study: "I Stopped at 14,000 Words-Enough Was Enough" California Magazine
• Jan 27, 2014 - How 'Chronic Fatigue Syndrome' Obscures A Serious Illness Buzzfeed

In June 2017 after writing dozens of articles and organising open letters on the PACE trial, David Tuller sought crowdfunding help from the patient community to continue his work on investigating the PACE trial. MEAction had an exclusive interview about his crowdfunding effort . He raised it on Crowdrise Virology Blog's Trial By Error: Reporting on PACE, ME/CFS and Related Issues (2017 and succeeded and actually exceeded his goal within four weeks.

Online presence

• Twitter

Learn more

• Berkeley Wellness - David Tuller

PACE trial A controversial study which claimed that CBT and GET were effective in treating "CFS/ME", despite the fact that its own data did not support this conclusion. Its results and methodology were widely disputed by patients, scientists, and the peer-reviewed scientific literature.

graded exercise therapy (GET) - A gradual increase in exercise or activity, according to a pre-defined plan. Focuses on overcoming the patient's alleged unhelpful illness beliefs that exertion can exacerbate symptoms, rather than on reversing physical deconditioning. Considered controversial, and possibly harmful, in the treatment or management of ME. One of the treatment arms of the controversial PACE trial.

PACE trial A controversial study which claimed that CBT and GET were effective in treating "CFS/ME", despite the fact that its own data did not support this conclusion. Its results and methodology were widely disputed by patients, scientists, and the peer-reviewed scientific literature.

BMJ The BMJ (previously the British Medical Journal) is a weekly peer-reviewed medical journal.