Mark VanNess



Dr J. Mark VanNess, PhD, is a member of the scientific advisory committee of the Workwell Foundation which specializes in two-day cardiopulmonary exercise testing (2-day CPET) for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia and other fatiguing conditions. He has been working on ME/CFS since 1999, and is particularly interested in issues of autonomic dysfunction and mechanisms that produce post-exertional malaise.

Dr VanNess serves as department chair and Full Professor of Health, Exercise & Sport Sciences, Department of Sport Sciences, and an Adjunct Instructor at the College of Engineering, both at the University of the Pacific, Stockton, California.

Education

 * 1990 - BS, Wheaton College, Illinois - Major: Exercise Physiology Minor: Biology
 * 1993 - MS, California State University Sacramento - Thesis Title: "Lactate and Metabolic Responses to Controlled Frequency Breathing During Graded Tethered Swimming"
 * 1997 - PhD, Florida State University - Dissertation Title: "Role of the Paraventricular Hypothalamic Nuclei and Neuropeptide Y in the Antihypertensive Effect of Food Restriction in Aortic Coarctation Hypertension"
 * 1997-1999 - Post-Doctoral Training, Depts. of Pharmacology and Physiology, Univ. Texas Health Science Center. Gender differences in sodium-dependent hypertension

ME/CFS Common Data Element (CDE) Project
Member of the Quality of Life/Functional Status (CPET)/Activity 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.

Notable studies

 * 2001, Assessment of Functional Impairment by Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing in Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - (Abstract)
 * 2001, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Ampligen, and Quality of Life: A Phenomenological Perspective - (Abstract)
 * 2002, Physical performance and prediction of 2-5A synthetase/RNase L antiviral pathway activity in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome - (Abstract)
 * 2003, Subclassifying chronic fatigue syndrome through exercise testing - (Abstract)
 * 2005, Exercise capacity and immune function in male and female patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) - (Full text)
 * 2007, Legal and Scientific Considerations of the Exercise Stress Test - (Abstract)
 * 2007, Diminished Cardiopulmonary Capacity During Post-Exertional Malaise - (Abstract)
 * 2010, Post-exertional malaise in women with chronic fatigue syndrome - (Abstract)
 * 2011, Diagnostic accuracy of symptoms characterising chronic fatigue syndrome - (Abstract)
 * 2011, Reliability and validity of Short Form 36 Version 2 to measure health perceptions in a sub-group of individuals with fatigue - (Full text)
 * 2013, Discriminative Validity of Metabolic and Workload Measurements for Identifying People With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - (Full text)
 * 2018, Editorial - Checking our blind spots: current status of research evidence summaries in ME/CFS - (Introduction)
 * 2018, Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test Methodology for Assessing Exertion Intolerance in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - (Abstract)
 * 2019, Chronotropic Intolerance: An Overlooked Determinant of Symptoms and Activity Limitation in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome? - (Full text)
 * 2019, Whole blood human transcriptome and virome analysis of ME/CFS patients experiencing post-exertional malaise following cardiopulmonary exercise testing - (Full text)

Clinic location
The Workwell Foundation is based in Ripon, California.

Talks and interviews

 * 2014, Mark VanNess 'Exercise and ME/CFS' at Bristol Watershed
 * 2014, Speaker at the ME Research UK Stormont Parliament meeting, ‘ME in Northern Ireland: practice and research priorities’; presentation on the role of exercise and activity management for people with ME or CFS, based on his own work
 * 2016, 12th International IACFS/ME Biennial Clinical and Research Conference, Emerging Science and Clinical Care, How Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing Informs Pathology and Treatment(Workshop given with Christopher Snell, Ph.D. and Betsy Keller, Ph.D.)
 * 2016, Dr. Mark Van Ness, "Expanding Physical Capability in ME/CFS" Part 1 (of 2)
 * 2016, Dr. Mark VanNess, "Expanding Physical Capability in ME/CFS" Part 2 (of 2)

Online presence

 * PubMed
 * Twitter
 * Workwell Foundation Website
 * ResearchGate

Learn more

 * 2016, Dr VanNess on recent press reports (January)