Michael VanElzakker

Michael VanElzakker, Phd, is a neuroscientist affiliated at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Tufts University. He has two primary research interests: post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). He has proposed a vagus nerve infection hypothesis (VNIH) for ME/CFS.

Dr. VanElzakker current research involves performing brain scans on ME/CFS patients and controls and analyzing the differences.

Education and affiliations
Education


 * Univeristy of Colorado at Boulder - Bachelors's and Master's, Psychology/Behavioral Neuroscience
 * Tufts University - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Psychology: Psychiatric neuroscience - 2010 to 2015
 * Harvard Medical School - Post Doctorate - 2015 to Present

Affiliations


 * Neuroendocrinology Lab Manager - University of Colorado August 2004 – May 2010


 * Massachusetts General Hospital - 2010 to Present

Open letter to The Lancet
Two open letters to the editor of The Lancet urged the editor to commission a fully independent review of the PACE trial, which the journal had published in 2011. In 2016, Dr. VanElzakker, along with 41 colleagues in the ME/CFS field, signed the second letter.
 * Feb 10, 2016, An open letter to The Lancet, again - Virology blog

Notable studies

 * 2021, Corrigendum: Neuroinflammation and Cytokines in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): A Critical Review of Research Methods - (Full text)
 * 2021, Long COVID or Post-acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC): An Overview of Biological Factors That May Contribute to Persistent Symptoms - (Full text)
 * 2019, Neuroinflammation and cytokines in myalgic encephalomyelitis/ chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS): A critical review of research methods - (Full text)
 * 2013, Chronic fatigue syndrome from vagus nerve infection: A psychoneuroimmunological hypothesis - (Full text)

Talks and interviews

 * 2014, An Interview with Michael VanElzakker, Phd
 * 2015, Harvard neuroscientist Dr. Michael VanElZakker: Chronic fatigue vagus nerve link
 * 2015, Podcast interview on Chronic Fatigue from Vagus Nerve Infection
 * 2015, Appears in Forgotten Plague explaining his hypothesis
 * 2016, Dr VanElzakker: two new ME/CFS studies at Harvard "Everyone here [at Harvard] recognizes that it’s a neuroimmune condition and approaches it that way."–"We don’t have a test yet, therefore it’s psychogenic? That reveals a tragic lack of humility about what we know and what we don’t know."
 * 2017, Interview with neuroscientist Michael VanElzakker: Vagus Nerve, ME/CFS, latent infection and more


 * Mar 30, 2018, ME/CFS Research with Michael VanElzakker, Vagus Nerve, triggers, ME/CFS Alert Episode 97


 * Nov 15, 2018, ME/CFS, Fibromyalgia: The Sexist Truth about "Contested Illnesses" interview by Isabella Rosario
 * May 31, 2019, Speaker at the 14th Invest in ME International ME Conference 2019; Speech title - Ongoing study of physiological and fMRI measures before/after symptom provocation by invasive cardiopulmonary exercise testing - (Video)
 * Jun 8, 2019, Neurology of ME/CFS: Neuroinflammation imaging, given at the Inaugural Harvard ME/CFS Collaboration Symposium sponsored by Open Medicine Foundation
 * Oct 26, 2019, ME/CFS at the Intersection of the Nervous & Immune Systems, given for the Massachusetts ME/CFS & FM Association 2019 fall lecture
 * 2022, [https://www.nbcboston.com/news/coronavirus/worst-hell-you-could-ever-imagine-study-hopes-to-shed-light-on-long-haul-covid/2617704/ 'Worst Hell You Could Ever Imagine': Study Hopes to Shed Light on Long-Haul COVID - BBC Boston

Cognitive behavioral therapy

 * On the topic of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): "I understand that this is a really charged topic among CFS advocates, and there is a lot of misinformation out there. Just to be clear, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) does not get at the root cause of CFS. CBT offers coping strategies and is not a cure. But I can’t think of a single medical condition that isn’t exacerbated by stress. CFS is no different. Having a chronic illness is stressful and it makes one’s life complicated and there’s a grieving process. CBT is for those parts of the illness. It’s intended to help people solve problems and to challenge dysfunctional patterns. If you’re seeing a CBT practitioner who views CFS as a psychologically-based illness and is approaching your CBT that way, fire them. Find someone else."

Cognitive behavioral therapy

 * "Subjective measures of sick people before & after they are repeatedly told, "You're not sick" is a social psych study, not a clinical trial."
 * "What #PACEtrial called "CBT" is not normal CBT. Cancer patients see CBT therapists all the time and are not told, 'you're not really sick.'"

Vagus nerve infection hypothesis

 * Quoting Louis Pasteur in reference to Vagus nerve infection hypothesis: "The germ is nothing; the terrain is everything."

Male and female differences in neuropathic pain

 * "I've always seen glial cell action in neuropathic pain as a model for #VNIH. This paper elucidates sex differences:"
 * Glial contributions to visceral pain: implications for disease etiology and the female predominance of persistent pain


 * "Sex differences in #MECFS could be explained by sex differences in glial cell & vagus nerve function." #VNIH.

Online presence

 * Researchgate
 * LinkedIn
 * PubMed
 * Twitter

Learn more

 * Tufts faculty profile
 * Harvard Catalyst
 * Postdoc Profile - MGH Research (2018)