Ryan Prior
Ryan Prior is an advocate who wrote and co-directed the documentary, Forgotten Plague, based on his experiences as well as others living with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). The topics of science and politics of ME/CFS were also included.
Illness onset leads to advocacy[edit | edit source]
In 2006 Ryan Prior was a healthy, athletic high school student when he became ill with ME/CFS. After graduating college and becoming a journalist he wrote an article for USA Today: College Viewpoint: The real story of chronic fatigue syndrome and received so much feedback that he realized he needed to do more to report on the disease and produced a documentary: "A Film That Tells The Great Under-Reported Medical Story Of Our Time." His crowdfund raised $120,000 for Forgotten Plague. Prior and his wife, Nicole Castillo, co-directed.[1]
Prior also founded The Blue Ribbon Fellowship to educate students in the disease ME/CFS. Currently only 5% of medical schools have proper curricular, research and clinical standards of care for the disease.[2]
Awards[edit | edit source]
- 2017 Eagle Rare Life Leadership Category Award $5K Prize
- Stanford MedX ePatient Scholar[3]
- ProHealth's 2014 Advocate of the Year[4]
Nominations[edit | edit source]
- Eagle Rare 2017 Rare Life Honor[5] Award and Contest open for international daily voting until January 2017. *Won Leadership category and $5K Award*
Talks and interviews[edit | edit source]
- 2016, In Sickness + In Health - Podcast 36 - ME/CFS & POTS w Ryan Prior (Begins at 11:45)
- 2016, Just Talking Podcast
- 2014, ME/CFS Alert Episode 58 - Ryan Prior and the Blue Ribbon Foundation
- 2014, ME/CFS Alert Episode 57 - Patient Perspectives - Ryan Prior and the Blue Ribbon Fellowship
- 23 Jan 2014, Dr. Andreas Kogelnik, Ryan Prior and Llewellyn King appeared on “The Jim Bohannon Show”
Media exposure[edit | edit source]
- 17 June 2013, A Young Man, a Big Disease and a Big Idea
