Elizabeth Unger

Elizabeth (Beth) R. Unger, MD, PhD, is the Chief of the Chronic Viral Disease Branch (CVDB), Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia. Chronic fatigue syndrome research falls under her department. She has worked at the CDC since 1997 and replaced Dr. William Reeves as Chief of CVDB in 2010. Dr. Unger has done extensive research at the CDC on the Human papillomavirus (HPV).

In 2002-2003, Dr Unger was on the team that tested the validity of 1994 CDC case definition of CFS, known as the empirical definition or Fukuda criteria, via the Wichita Clinical Study. The study, according to the CDC, "identifies persons with CFS in a precise manner that can be readily reproduced by both investigators and clinicians." This study garnered much criticism from the patient community for not being specific enough to exclude patients which other illnesses. In particular, there is no mention of post-exertional malaise. Many researchers continued to use the Fukuda criteria for research.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee
Dr. Unger has represented the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) on the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee (CFSAC), for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as an Ex Officio Member.

Education
Dr. Unger received an undergraduate degree in Chemistry at Lebanon Valley College, Annville, PA and her PhD and MD in the Division of Biologic Sciences at the University of Chicago. Her residency and fellowship was completed at Pennsylvania State University Medical Center.

Awards

 * 2008, Health and Human Services (HHS) Career Achievement Award for her Human papillomavirus (HPV) research accomplishments

Notable studies related to ME/CFS

 * 2003, Prevalence and Incidence of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in Wichita, Kansas (Full Text)
 * 2003, Identification of ambiguities in the 1994 chronic fatigue syndrome research case definition]] and recommendations for resolution (Full Text)
 * 2004, Factor analysis of symptoms among subjects with unexplained chronic fatigue: what can we learn about chronic fatigue syndrome? (Abstract)
 * 2005, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – A clinically empirical approach to its definition and study.
 * 2005, Psychometric properties of the CDC Symptom Inventory for assessment of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (Full Text)
 * 2006, Sleep characteristics of persons with chronic fatigue syndrome and non-fatigued controls: results from a population-based study.
 * 2007, Perception versus polysomnographic assessment of sleep in CFS and non-fatigued control subjects: results from a population-based study. (Full Text)
 * 2009, An evaluation of exclusionary medical/psychiatric conditions in the definition of chronic fatigue syndrome (Full Text)
 * 2012, Minimum data elements for research reports on CFS [(Full text)
 * 2013, Acute psychosocial stress-mediated changes in the expression and methylation of perforin in chronic fatigue syndrome (Full Text)
 * 2014, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: The Current Status and Future Potentials of Emerging Biomarkers (Full Text)
 * 2014, Decreased basal ganglia activation in subjects with chronic fatigue syndrome: association with symptoms of fatigue. (Full Text)
 * 2015, Pathway-focused genetic evaluation of immune and inflammation related genes with chronic fatigue syndrome (Full Text)
 * 2015, Early menopause and other gynecologic risk indicators for chronic fatigue syndrome in women. (Full Text)
 * 2016, Telomere Length Analysis in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (Full Text)
 * 2016, CDC Grand Rounds: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome — Advancing Research and Clinical Education. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (Full Text)
 * 2016, CDC Multi-site Clinical Assessment of CFS
 * 2016, Methods of applying the 1994 case definition of chronic fatigue syndrome - impact on classification and observed illness characteristics (Full Text)
 * 2017, Multi-Site Clinical Assessment of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (MCAM): Design and Implementation of a Prospective/Retrospective Rolling Cohort Study (Full Text)
 * 2018, A Common Language for Clinical Research Studies: The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) Common Data Elements (CDEs) (Abstract)

Talks & interviews

 * 2016, Webinar for Solve ME/CFS Initiative titled "Update on CDC's Public Health Approach To ME/CFS"
 * 16 Feb 2016, CDC Grand Rounds - Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Advancing Research and Clinical Education with Charles Lapp, MD, Elizabeth Unger, PhD, MD, Anthony Komaroff, MD and Avindra Nath, MD
 * Grand Rounds Video
 * Grand Rounds Presentation Slide Deck


 * 2014, Interim Results of a Multi-site Clinical Study of ME/CFS
 * 2014, CDC CFS Patient-Centered Outreach and Communication Activity (PCOCA) Conference Call Audio Recording
 * 2010, 8 - Dr. Unger - CFSAC May 2010
 * 2010, 7 - Dr. Unger - CFSAC May 2010
 * 2010, Dr. Elizabeth Unger describes the CDC's Mind-Body connection view of CFS at CFSAC October 2010
 * 2010, CFSAC Oct2010 Day 3 CDC Q&A part 2 of 3
 * 2010, CFSAC Oct 2010 Panel Members ask Questions

Online presence

 * PubMed - Elizabeth Unger

Learn more

 * 2014, CDC Multi-site Study – An interview with Beth Unger
 * 2011, Who is CDC CFS Research Chief Dr. Elizabeth Unger?
 * 2010, New Chronic Viral Diseases Branch Chief