Ronald Davis

Ronald Wayne Davis, PhD., is a Professor of Biochemistry & Genetics and the Director of the Stanford Genome Technology Center at Stanford University. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

His son, Whitney Dafoe, is severely ill with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). Professor Davis leads the End ME/CFS Project with the Open Medicine Foundation whose first project was the ME/CFS Severely Ill, Big Data Study.

Open Medicine Foundation
Director of the Scientific Advisory Board at Open Medicine Foundation, which is committed to research for ME/CFS and related chronic complex diseases.

Institute of Medicine report
Dr. Davis was one of the experts on the "Committee on the Diagnostic Criteria for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" that was convened as per US government request for the 2015 Institute of Medicine. The Institute of Medicine has since changed its name to the National Academy of Medicine.

ME/CFS Common Data Element (CDE) Project
Member of the Biomarkers Working Group of the Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Common Data Element (CDE) Project sponsored by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Open Letters to The Lancet
In response to The Lancet 's publication of the controversial PACE trial in 2011, three open letters to the editor of The Lancet urged the editor, Richard Horton, to commission a fully independent review of the PACE trial. Dr. Davis signed all three. The first, written in 2015, was signed by Dr. Davis and five of his colleagues. In 2016, thirty-six additional colleagues in the ME/CFS field, signed the second letter. In 2018, a resubmitted letter had over one hundred signatories.
 * 13 November 2015, An open letter to Dr. Richard Horton and The Lancet
 * 10 February 2016, An open letter to The Lancet, again - Virology blog
 * 9 July 2018, Yet Another Appeal to The Lancet, With More On Board

Millions Missing protest
Dr. Ron Davis and his wife, Dr. Janet Dafoe, protested with #MillionsMissing at the San Francisco satellite protest on May 25, 2016. Dr. Davis gave a speech about the challenges ME patients face, and his hopes for the future of ME research. To see video of Dr. Davis's interview at the San Francisco #MillionsMissing click HERE.

ME/CFS Research

 * March 2016, it was announced that the ME/CFS Severely Ill, Big Data Study had a significant result in the area of mitochondria. This lead to the addition of Dr. Robert Naviaux (a mitochondrial expert) to the research team.


 * February 2017, Dr. Davis explained in a video that the development of new nanofabricated technology allows rapid drug screening via measurement of electrical impedance. This technology may be able to determine which medications could be most effective in treating myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome. Experimentation is also being carried out to test if this same nanofabricated technology could be used in developing a simple diagnostic test for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.


 * June 2018, Dr. Davis and the Stanford Genome Center received a grant award for the research study 'Molecular and Single-cell Immunology of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome' "to investigate the immunological basis of ME/CFS using cutting-edge technologies to understand the role of infection and autoimmunity in the behavior of single immune cells from patients – offering precise insights into how this complex illness originates and persists that may lead to new strategies for treatment." This is a five-year study that will receive $745,000 a year.

Talks and Interviews
2016
 * May 21 - Short Story of a Family's Struggle with ME/CFS
 * Jun 3 - Speaker at the 11th Invest in ME International ME Conference - Big Data Approach: Severely Ill ME Patient Cohort DVD available
 * Dec 13 - Getting Answers to ME/CFS Faster through Collaboration and Openness

2017
 * Feb 3 - Scientist Ron Davis Tells How We Are "Fast-Tracking" ME/CFS Research
 * Feb 20 - Chronic Fatigue: Missing Millions (Carte Blanche DSTV)
 * Feb 21 - "An Update on ME/CFS Research with Dr. Ronald W. Davis"
 * YouTube video
 * Transcript


 * Mar 7 - Q&A on ME/CFS Research with Dr. Ron Davis
 * June - Ron Davis is optimistic at the 2017 Invest in ME Research Conference
 * June 2 - Speaker at the 12th Invest in ME International ME Conference on "Big Data Approach: Severely ill ME Patient Cohort" DVD available
 * June 15 - "The Last Major Disease To Be Studied? Ron Davis of Stanford Thinks So"
 * Mendelspod podcast
 * Transcript


 * 12 Aug - Community Symposium on the Molecular Basis of ME/CFS - 2017: Speech title - Establishing new mechanistic and diagnostic paradigms for ME/CFS

Online presence

 * PubMed

Learn more

 * Wikipedia - Ronald Davis
 * 2016, Happy 75th Birthday to Scientist Ronald W. Davis, PhD
 * 2016, Tackling chronic fatigue syndrome (January 5)
 * 2016, "The puzzle solver: A researcher changes course to help his son" by Tracie White, Stanford Medicine