Jennifer Brea



Jennifer Brea is a filmmaker, activist and myalgic encephalomyelitus (ME) patient. Along with Beth Mazur, she co-founded #MEAction. Jennifer is also the founder of MEpedia and director of Unrest, an award-winning documentary film about living with ME.

Jennifer was initially misdiagnosed with "conversion disorder" instead of ME; she was seriously harmed after a walk home from her neurologist's office when she should have been ordered to get complete bed rest for her best chance of recovery. Jennifer Brea - Canary In A Coal Mine - The Coffee Klatch - Listen @4:00

In 2012 Jennifer married Omar Wasow, a famous TV talk show, film producer and founder of Blackplanet.

Unrest documentary film
Jennifer directed and produced the film Unrest which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2017 and was on the shortlist for the 2017 Academy Awards.

Articles

 * Nov 9, 2017 - I made a film from my bed to show my illness is real
 * Dec 27, 2017 - They told me my illness was all in my head. Was it because I’m a woman?

Talks and interviews

 * Jan 2017, Sundance Film Festival - Meet the Artist '17: Jennifer Brea
 * Jan 2017, What happens when you have a disease doctors can't diagnose (TED Talk)
 * Jan 20, 2017, Sundance Reel hour one - Jan 20, 2017 Audio interview with Jennifer Brea and Omar Wasow about Unrest (31mins in)
 * Feb 10 2017, Jennifer Brea: Can The Internet Help You Get The Right Diagnosis? - NPR (transcript)
 * May 18, 2017 - Congressional Briefing on ME/CFS  (Slides of briefing)
 * May 6, 2018, Episode One The ME Show podcast by Gary Burgess


 * List of talks and interviews at jenbrea.com

Awards

 * 2013, ProHealth’s 2013 Advocate of the Year – Jennifer Brea
 * 2015, Congrats to ‘Canary in a Coal Mine,’ November’s Project of the Month!
 * 2017, ProHealth is proud to announce its 2017 Patient Advocate of the Year – Jennifer Brea

Learn more

 * Wikipedia - Jennifer Brea
 * 2016, The story and stigma of a baffling illness: Jen Brea speaks at TEDSummit
 * 2016, Women's Media Center with Robin Morgan (Audio)

Online presence

 * Twitter
 * Website