Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee

The Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee (CFSAC) provides advice and recommendations to the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Assistant Secretary for Health (ASH), on issues related to myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). According to its charter, these issues can include factors affecting access and care for persons with ME/CFS; the science and definition of ME/CFS; and broader public health, clinical, research and educational issues related to ME/CFS.

The committee held its first meeting in 2003, and meets at least twice a year. Meetings are open to the public (except as determined otherwise by the Secretary or other official to whom authority has been delegated), in keeping with the guidelines of the Sunshine Act, 5 U.S.C.552b(c). The meetings' minutes, public and written testimonies, and many speakers' presentations are available online at the CFSAC HHS.gov website.

The home of the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee (CFSAC) (pronounced "sif-sac") falls under the administrative and management support of the HHS Office on Women's Health and is lead by Commander Gustavo Seinos, MPH, Senior Advisor to the Director, Office on Women’s Health.

Charter

 * Charter - Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee

2016 Charter Amendments
On Oct 26, 2016, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that it had renewed the charter for the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee thereby authorizing the Committee to continue to operate until September 5, 2018. Several amendments to the charter were also made:
 * a fifth duty has been added to the Description of Duties in order to emphasize the importance of getting stakeholder input,
 * removing the governmental agency Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as a non-voting ex-officio member and replacing the position with two new ex-officio positions for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD),
 * as per the recommendation of patient advocates the number of voting public members has been increased to 13 to give patients and/or caretakers of ME/CFS more representation on the Committee,
 * the committee will report directly to Assistant Secretary for Health (ASH), making the ASH the official responsible for better monitoring and implementation of the recommendations that are approved by the Secretary.

CFSAC Member Roster
The following roster is obtained from HHS.gov.

Voting Members

Chair Susan M. Levine, M.D. New York, NY Term: 05/10/14 to 05/10/17

Dane B. Cook, Ph.D. Madison, WI Term: 05/10/14 to 05/10/17

Gary E. Kaplan, D.O. McLean, VA Term: 05/15/15 to 05/15/17

Alisa E. Koch, M.D. Ann Arbor, MI Term: 06/16/14 to 06/15/18

Jose G. Montoya, M.D. Stanford, CA Term: 06/16/14 to 06/16/18

Faith Newton, Ed.D Dover, DE Term: 07/01/14 to 07/01/18

Donna M. Pearson Holland, MA Term: 06/16/14 to 06/16/18

Vacant position

Ex Officio Members

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Primary

Theodore Ganiats, M.D. Center for Evidence and Practice Improvement

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Primary

Ermias Belay, M.D. Associate Director for Epidemiologic Science Director of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology

Alternate

Elizabeth Unger, M.D., Ph.D. Branch Chief, Chronic Viral Disease

Food and Drug Administration

Primary

Janet W. Maynard, M.D. Clinical Team Leader, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Rheumatology Products Center for Drug Evaluation and Research

Alternate

Keith Hull, M.D., Ph.D. Center for Drug Evaluation and Research Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Rheumatology Products

Health Resources and Services Administration

Joel Nelson, MSW, MPH Acting Director, Division of Nursing and Public Health Bureau of Health Workforce

Social Security Administration

Primary

Cheryl A. Williams Director, Office of Medical Policy

Alternate

Michele Schaefer Office of Disability Policy

National Institutes of Health

Primary

Vicky Holets Whittemore, Ph.D. Program Director, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Department of Defense

Pending

Department of Veteran Affairs

Primary

Drew A. Helmer, MD, MS Director- War Related Illness and Injury Study Center; VA - New Jersey Health Care System

Non-Voting Liaison Representatives to the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee (CFSAC)

Solve ME/CFS Initiative (formerly CFIDS Association of America) Term: 5/2015 - 5/2017

International Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (IACFS/ME) Term: 5/2015 - 5/2017

Designated Federal Official Commander Gustavo Seinos, MPH, Senior Advisor to the Director, Office on Women’s Health

CFSAC meeting minutues

 * 18 Aug 2015 Minutes- Day 1
 * 19 Aug 2015 Minutes- Day 2

Articles about CFSAC

 * 21 May 2016, CFS Advisory Committee Meeting Outcomes

Learn more

 * HHS.gov
 * CFSAC Advisory Committee
 * Article by ME Advocacy about August 2015 meeting
 * 2003 Recommendations of the Name Change Workgroup to rename illness "neuroendocrineimmune dysfunction syndrome," or NDS