Peter Behan

Professor Peter Oliver Behan, (d. 31st August 2019), MD, DSc, FACP, FRCP, FLS, consultant neurologist, was one of the few ME specialists working in UK in 1980s. He wrote the introduction to Dr Melvin Ramsay's 1986 Postviral Fatigue Syndrome: The Saga of Royal Free Disease. He was a patron to the ME Association.

While appearing in part two (at 35 mins) of 2012 BBC Alba documentary Toxic Tiredness, he describes mitochondrial abnormalities and speaks of an "essential biochemical or molecular component to the illness which needs to be elucidated, and research should be along the grounds into these illnesses, rather than dealing with psychological talk-the-talk nonsense."

He served as a medical advisor to CHROME (Case History Research on ME), a registered charity for severely disabled ME patients.

Notable studies

 * 1996, Enterovirus Replication and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - (Abstract)
 * 1996, Defective Dexamethasone Induced Growth Hormone Release in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Evidence for Cerebral Glucocorticoid Receptor Resistance - (Abstract)
 * 1996, Viruses and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - (Abstract)
 * 1997, Parvovirus B19 and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - (Abstract)
 * 1997, Possible Cell Membrane Transport Defect in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome? - (Abstract)
 * 1997, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Disorder of Central Cholinergic Transmission - (Abstract)
 * 2009, A gene signature for post-infectious chronic fatigue syndrome - (Full Text)

Learn more

 * Documentary Toxic Tiredness, Part 1
 * Documentary Toxic Tiredness, Part 2
 * Prof Behan: electron microscopy shows abnormal mitochondria in ME
 * Tribute paid to Professor Peter Behan – M.E. expert and ME Association patron