Vance Spence

Vance A. Spence, Ph.D., was a Principal Clinical Scientist responsible for vascular services and research. In 1997, he returned from an early retirement due to contracting myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) to become an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Medicine at the University of Dundee, Scotland, with the objective of stimulating research into the cause of myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). He is especially interested in the role of inflammation, oxidative stress, and acetylcholine in these illnesses.

Dr Spence helped found and serves as Chairman of ME Research UK, a research group. Additionally, he helped found MERGE, the ME biomedical research charity and serves as Scientific Advisor for the 25 Percent ME Group, a patient group for the severe ME patient.

Talks and Interviews

 * 2007, Speaker at the 2nd Invest in ME International ME Conference; talk title - Biomedical Research into ME/CFS: where does it go from here DVD available
 * 2007, Speaker at the Eighth International IACFSME Conference Agenda on "Inflammation and Arterial Stiffness in Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome"
 * 2014, Speaker at the ME Research UK Stormont Parliament meeting, ‘ME in Northern Ireland: practice and research priorities’; talk title - “The science of ME/CFS: What do we know?”

Notable studies

 * 2004, Peripheral cholinergic function in humans with chronic fatigue syndrome, Gulf War syndrome and with illness following organophosphate exposure
 * 2004, Acetylcholine mediated vasodilatation in the microcirculation of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome
 * 2005, Oxidative stress levels are raised in chronic fatigue syndrome and are associated with clinical symptoms
 * 2008, Low-grade inflammation and arterial wave reflection in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome