David Tuller

David M. Tuller, DrPh, or Dave Tuller, is a Senior Fellow in Public Health in Journalism at the Center of Global Public Health, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, California and regularly writes about research on myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome and other frequently misunderstood illnesses. Previously to his current appointment at Berkeley in July 2017, he was academic coordinator of the University of California, Berkeley's joint masters program in public health and journalism. He worked as a reporter and editor for ten years at the San Francisco Chronicle, served as health editor at Salon.com, and frequently writes about health for The New York Times.

He is an experienced public health activist with a background as an ACT UP activist, which included an arrest at the Wall Street demonstration in 1987.

PACE trial
David Tuller covered the PACE trial results for The New York Times in February 2011. However he became concerned about the trial and wrote a further article regarding case definitions, which resulted in a letter to the editor in response from the PACE trial authors. This led to him investigating the trial and its authors further after contact with others in the patient community.

Tuller is sympathetic toward the cause of the myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) patient community. In an article in 2015 he wrote:

"'In the course of my reporting, I’d realized that the disease was both devastating and widely misunderstood. People were really, really sick—some were homebound for months and years at a stretch. Yet their condition had been saddled with one of the most condescending names ever given a major illness.'"

In June 2017 after writing dozens of articles and organizing open letters on the PACE trial, David Tuller sought crowdfunding help from the ME/CFS patient community to continue his work on investigating the PACE trial. MEAction had an exclusive interview about his crowdfunding effort. He raised it on Crowdrise Virology Blog's Trial By Error: Reporting on PACE, ME/CFS and Related Issues (2017) and succeeded and actually exceeded his goal within four weeks. The funds raised went to the Center for Scientific Integrity who transferred them to the School of Public Health at University of California, Berkeley, which in turn created a position for Tuller to continue his investigative work.

In 2019, Tuller began by covering the UK Parliament Appropriate ME Treatment debate, criticizing both the UK government response from Under-secretary Steve Brine, and the ME/CFS training course offered by the Royal College of General Practitioners which Steve Brine had praised during the debate.

Medically unexplained symptoms
From 2018 to 2021, Tuller renewed his crowdfunding campaign, expanding his focus well beyond ME/CFS treatment trials and the error-ridden PACE trial to cover anything under the increasingly large Medically Unexplained Symptoms / Persistent Physical Symptoms / "Functional" symptoms banner, including Irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, FND including non-epileptic seizures, and, since 2020, Long COVID.

Topics attracting Tuller's attention have included possible ethics violations, research bias and methodological flaws in research, inappropriate psychologization inaccurate media reporting of science, the legitimization and promotion of pseudoscience based on neurolinguistic programming (NLP) and "brain training", genetics based research, a number of Cochrane's systematic reviews and its complaints process, research funding decisions, and changes to existing ME/CFS treatment guidelines.

Education

 * 2005, Masters in Public Health from University of California, Berkeley
 * Doctor of Public Health

Awards

 * 2016, IACFS/ME Special Service Award - for outstanding personal effort and contribution to the CFS/ME community
 * 2016, Tymes Trust Award for Scientific Journalism

Talks and interviews

 * Feb 6, 2011 - Virology blog podcast: TWiV 119: Science and journalism with David Tuller. Dr. Tuller appeared as a guest on Vincent Racaniello's podcast.
 * Feb 27, 2016 - Discussed the flaws of the Pace trial with Frank Twisk while in Amsterdam at The Forgotten Plague Conference.
 * Feb 28, 2016 - Speech on PACE Trial with Q&As in Amsterdam.
 * Jul 10, 2016 - Virology blog Podcast: TWiV 397: Trial by Error Dr. Tuller speaks at length and in detail about the PACE trial (calling the PACE Trial preposterous and a pack of nonsense, and a piece of crap) and FINE trial, The Lancet, British Medical Journal (BMJ) and PLOS ONE, patients being ill yet deconstructing the PACE Trial, how ME/CFS is a disease being treated inappropriately with Exercise, GET and CBT, touches on the Institute of Medicine report and SEID, Valerie Eliot Smith and Karina Hansen, and more.
 * Aug 21, 2016 - Virology blog Podcast: TWiV 403: It’s not easy being vaccine Discussion with David Tuller regarding PACE trial at 00.17.38- 00.23.57.
 * Oct 29, 2016 - Undark Podcast #8: Worse Than the Disease Dr. Tuller discusses graded exercise therapy (GET) "a therapy commonly prescribed for chronic fatigue syndrome — one for which supporting research is now unraveling."
 * Feb 20, 2017 - Chronic Fatigue: Missing Millions (Carte Blanche DSTV)
 * 30th May 2017 - Hope 4 ME & Fibro Northern Ireland Seeking Solutions conference took place in the Long Gallery, Stormont, Northern Ireland government headquarters. David Tuller presented an overview of the PACE Trial to medical professionals, health commissioners and MLAs (members of the legislative assembly)
 * May 31, 2017 - Virology blog Podcast: TWiV Special: Trial by Error, Continued David Tuller returns to discuss the continuing saga of the UK’s PACE trial for chronic fatigue syndrome, including the accusation that he is engaging in libelous blogging.
 * May 2017 - Interview with David Tuller PhD, Dublin, May 2017
 * June 1, 2017, Pre-Conference Dinner Speaker at the 12th Invest in ME International ME Conference on "#TearItUp" on his analysis of the Pace trial
 * Video of pre-conference dinner presentation


 * Oct 14, 2017, TWiV Special: Tear it up with David Tuller, interviewed by Vincent Racaniello
 * Dec 26, 2017, David Tuller and the (s)PACE cake eaters interviewed by Anil van der Zee
 * Mar 2018 - Talk with Emerge Australia
 * Apr 15, 2018 - ME/CFS – Debunking Medical Myths, A Conversation between Sue Gilbey, Dr David Tuller, Penelope McMillan & Tania Emms, highlighting the challenges of living with ME/CFS on Radio Adelaide
 * Apr 16, 2018 - U.S. Journalist raising awareness for Chronic Fatigue interviewed on Perth Tonight with Chris Ilsley
 * Nov 3, 2018 - How Investigative Journalism Succeeds In a Hostile Medical Environment for the Massachusetts ME/CFS & FM Association fall lecture
 * Nov 15, 2018, ME/CFS Alert Episode 102 - Interviewed by Llewellyn King
 * Jan 22, 2020 - Trial By Error: My Talk Last October in Oxford (Video)

Writings about ME/CFS
Trial By Error on Virology Blog (Older posts can be found on Trial By Error)

2020
(Older blog entries can be found on the Trial By Error page.)
 * Jan 7, 2020 - Trial By Error: Some More Thoughts on Functional Neurological Disorder
 * Jan 8, 2020 - Trial By Error: The Danish ME Association’s Open Letter
 * Jan 8, 2020 - Trial By Error: NIH Funding “Needs Life Support,” Says Jennie Spotila
 * Jan 13, 2020 - Trial By Error: The UK’s Proposed Genetics Study
 * Jan 13, 2020 - Trial By Error: The 2018 PACE Reanalysis and the SMC’s Expert Appraisals
 * Jan 15, 2020 - Trial By Error: CBT Provides No Benefit for Advanced Cancer Patients, Study Finds
 * Jan 22, 2020 - Trial By Error: My Talk Last October in Oxford (Video)
 * Jan 24, 2020 - Trial By Error: CBT and Irritable Bowel Syndrome
 * Jan 27, 2020 - Trial By Error: My FOI Request to King’s College London; My Letter to Mahana Therapeutics
 * Jan 27, 2020 - Trial By Error: A Commercial Deal for King’s College London’s IBS-CBT Digital Program
 * Jan 28, 2020 - Trial By Error: More on the Mahana Therapeutics Deal
 * Feb 3, 2020 - Trial By Error: My Letter to Professor Moss-Morris
 * Feb 5, 2020 - Trial By Error: My Letter to One of Mahana’s Gastroenterology Advisors
 * Feb 10, 2020 - Trial By Error: My Follow-Up Letter to Professor Rona Moss-Morris
 * Feb 11, 2020 - Trial By Error: My Letter to Two More Mahana GI Advisors
 * Feb 11, 2020 - Trial By Error: My Letter to Mahana’s CEO and Co-Founder
 * Feb 17, 2020 - Trial By Error: My Follow-up Letter to Mahana Therapeutic’s CEO
 * Feb 19, 2020 - Trial By Error: An Australian Radio Interview with Melbourne’s Mark Guthridge
 * Feb 24, 2020 - Trial By Error: Another Letter About Mahana; BerkeleyWellness on IBS Study
 * Feb 25, 2020 - Trial By Error: Simon McGrath on Leonard Jason’s Study of US Pediatric Prevalence
 * March 2, 2020 - Trial By Error: New Biopsychosocial Study of Fatigue in HIV Patients
 * March 16, 2020 - Trial By Error: My Virtual Appearance in Sheffield
 * March 18, 2020 - Trial By Error: What Now?
 * March 26, 2020 - Trial By Error: Some Coronavirus Advice from ME Association’s Charles Shepherd
 * April 2, 2020 - Trial By Error: A Long-Time Patient Reflects on a Stay-at-Home World
 * April 3, 2020 - Trial By Error: Thoughts on Self-Isolation from Anil van der Zee
 * April 7, 2020 - Trial By Error: A Non-COVID Post about KCL’s Rejection of My FOI Request
 * April 8, 2020 - Trial By Error: A Post About Lupus and MUS, Not COVID
 * April 9, 2020 - Trial By Error: My Visits with Alem Matthees (Reprise)
 * April 13, 2020 - Trial By Error: Berkeley Crowdfunding Month, Coronavirus Edition
 * April 15, 2020 - Trial By Error: Revisiting Mahana and Irritable Bowel Syndrome…
 * April 16, 2020 - Trial By Error: Oxford-NHS Recommends GET/CBT for Post-COVID “CFS” Patients
 * April 18, 2020 - Trial By Error: My FOI Letter about Oxford’s Post-COVID-19 Fatigue Pamphlet
 * April 18, 2020 - Trial By Error: A Follow-Up to the Follow-Up Letter to Mahana
 * April 20, 2020 - Trial By Error: Oxford Health Blinks, Removes Pamphlet on Post-COVID Illness
 * April 20, 2020 - Trial By Error: My Follow-Up Freedom-of-Information Request to Oxford Health
 * April 25, 2020 - Trial By Error: More on the Mahana Mess…
 * April 28, 2020 - Trial By Error: Another Nudge to Mahana’s Gasteroenterology Advisers
 * April 30, 2020 - Trial By Error: A Letter to Mahana’s NHS-Linked Business Adviser
 * May 2, 2020 - Trial By Error: Oxford Health’s Response to My Freedom of Information Request
 * May 2, 2020 - Trial By Error: Norway’s Proposed Lightning Process Trial
 * May 5, 2020 - Trial By Error: My Letter to IBS Study’s Corresponding Author
 * May 6, 2020 - Trial By Error: Merck Manual Still Disseminates GET/CBT Advice
 * May 8, 2020 - Trial By Error: Valerie Eliot Smith on COVID-19, ME and Legal Repercussions
 * May 12, 2020 - Trial By Error: Today is May 12th and Everyone’s Missing
 * May 16, 2020 - Trial By Error: More on that Norwegian CBT/Music Therapy Study
 * May 20, 2020 - Trial By Error: More Strangeness with that Norwegian CBT/Music Therapy Study
 * May 20, 2020 - Trial By Error: Norway’s Double Whammy of Fuzzy Science
 * May 22, 2020 - Trial By Error: My Letter to Senior Author of Norway’s CBT-Music Therapy Study
 * May 28, 2020 - Trial by Error: Tack’s Take  on BMJ’s CBT-Music Therapy “Feasibility Study”
 * May 28, 2020 - Trial By Error: My Letter to Peer Reviewer of BMJ’s CBT-Music Therapy Paper
 * May 30, 2020 - Trial By Error: Two Letters to Dagbladet About Its ME Coverage
 * May 31, 2020 - Trial By Error: Letter to BMJ Paediatrics Open About that CBT-Music Therapy Study
 * June 2, 2020 - Trial By Error: A Couple of Blog Posts Worth Reading
 * June 3, 2020 - Trial By Error: A Response from Dagbladet
 * June 9, 2020 - Trial By Error: Coupla More Posts Worth Reading
 * June 11, 2020 - Trial By Error: A King’s College London Press Release Hides the Bad News
 * June 15, 2020 - Trial By Error: A Letter to KCL, Another Letter to BMJ
 * June 17, 2020 - Trial By Error: Trio of Trials Shows Limits of CBT for Medically Unexplained Symptoms
 * June 18, 2020 - Trial By Error: BMJ Responds to Appeals About Norway’s CBT-Music Therapy Study
 * June 23, 2020 - Trial By Error: More Questions About CODES Trial of CBT for Seizures
 * June 25, 2020 - Trial By Error: UK Funds Genetics Project; My Letter to CODES Investigators
 * June 26, 2020 - Trial By Error: CODES Trial Commentary Promotes ‘Eminence-Based Medicine’
 * June 27, 2020 - Trial By Error: My Letter to Author of CODES Commentary
 * June 30, 2020 - Trial By Error: A Few Interesting Studies
 * July 2, 2020 - Trial By Error: Now There’s CBT for ‘Health Anxiety’ in CFS
 * July 3, 2020 - Trial By Error: Nudge for BMJ About Music Therapy; Letter to “Health Anxiety” Expert

New York Times

 * Jul 17, 2007 - Chronic Fatigue No Longer Seen as 'Yuppie Flu'
 * May 30, 2008 - What to Ask About Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
 * May 30, 2008 - Learning Firsthand About Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
 * Aug 24, 2010 - Study Links Chronic Fatigue to Virus Class
 * Jan 3, 2011 - Exhausted by Illness, and Doubts
 * Feb 17, 2011 - Psychotherapy Eases Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Study Finds
 * Mar 4, 2011 - Defining an Illness Is Fodder for Debate
 * Jun 1, 2011 - 2 Studies Examine Syndrome of Fatigue
 * Sep 22, 2011 - Viral Theory Is Set Back in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Study
 * Dec 22, 2011 - Fatigue Syndrome Study Is Retracted by Journal
 * Dec 26, 2011 - Scholars Retract Another Study Linking Virus to Fatigue Syndrome
 * Feb 6, 2012 - Fallout From Fatigue Syndrome Retraction Is Wide
 * Sep 18, 2012 - Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Back to Square 1
 * Nov 24, 2014 - Brains of People With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Offer Clues About Disorder - New York Times: Well (2014)
 * Feb 10, 2015 - Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Gets a New Name
 * Mar 18, 2017 - Getting It Wrong on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (with Julie Rehmeyer) and Letters of response' Letters - The New York Times

Other print media

 * Jan 27, 2014 - How 'Chronic Fatigue Syndrome' Obscures A Serious Illness Buzzfeed
 * Nov 18, 2015 - Reporter Excoriates Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Study: "I Stopped at 14,000 Words-Enough Was Enough" California Magazine
 * Oct 27, 2016 - Worse Than the Disease Undark
 * Apr 27, 2017 - Once again, the PACE authors respond to concerns with empty answers Journal of Health Psychology
 * Jul 26, 2017 - CDC Removes Reference to Disputed ME/CFS Therapies From Website Undark
 * Sep 25, 2017 - Why did it take the CDC so long to reverse course on debunked treatments for chronic fatigue syndrome? StatNews by David Tuller and Julie Rehmeyer
 * 2018 - Rethinking the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome—A reanalysis and evaluation of findings from a recent major trial of graded exercise and CBT (Full Text)
 * 2019 - The 'Cognitive Behavioural Model' of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Critique of a Flawed Model (Abstract)
 * July 21, 2020 - Chronic fatigue syndrome may hold keys to understanding post-Covid syndrome StatNews by David Tuller and Steven Lubet

Online presence

 * Twitter
 * ResearchGate
 * Trial by error (Alternate hosting)

Learn more

 * Berkeley Wellness - David Tuller