Alem Matthees

Alem Matthees lives in East Perth, Australia.

PACE Investigation
Alem Matthees was the original requester of the anonymised data of the PACE study, a controversial study that concluded that cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and graded exercise therapy (GET) was the preferred treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome. On 24 March 2014, he filed a UK Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for the data, but Queen's Mary University of London (QMUL), the institution that sponsored the PACE study, denied his request. On 18 June 2014, Mr. Matthees requested an internal review, but QMUL denied his request again. On 15 Dec 2014, he filed a complaint to the Information Commissioner which ruled in his favor that the researchers were to release the anonymised data of the study, in Oct 2015 and again, in Aug 2016, after an appeal by QMUL.

Many scientists around the world supported Mr. Matthees request, as they, too, wanted to be able to test the study's methods and statistical analysis.