David Tuller

David Tuller, DrPh, is academic coordinator of University of California, Berkeley's joint masters program in public health and journalism. He was 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's an experienced public health activist with a background as an ACT UP/NY activist which included an arrest at the Wall Street demonstration in 1987.

David Tuller covered the PACE trial results for The New York Times as health editor in February 2011. However he became concerned about the trial and wrote a further article regarding case definitions which resulted in an immediate response from the PACE trial authors which resulted him in 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.'"

Talks & interviews

 * 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.


 * Feb 20 2017, Chronic Fatigue: Missing Millions (Carte Blanche DSTV)


 * Oct 29 2016, Undark Podcast #8: Worse Than the Disease Dr. Tuller Graded Exercise Therapy (GET) commonly prescribed for chronic fatigue syndrome — one for which supporting research is now unraveling.


 * 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.


 * 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.


 * Feb 28 2016, Speech on PACE Trial with Q&As in Amsterdam.


 * Feb 27 2016, Discussed the flaws of the Pace trial with Frank Twisk while in Amsterdam at The Forgotten Plague Conference.


 * 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.

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

Writings about ME/CFS
Virology Blog
 * May 22, 2017 - "Trial By Error, Continued: ME Research UK Drops Out of CMRC"
 * May 15 2017 - "Trial By Error, Continued: The CMRC Affirms Full Support for Libelous Esther"
 * May 10 2017 - "Trial By Error, Continued: CMRC to Virology Blog: 'F**k Off!'"
 * May 8 2017 - "Trial By Error, Continued: An Open Letter to the Board of the CFS/ME Research Collaborative"
 * May 3, 2017 - "Trial By Error, Continued: My Libelous Blogging on Virology Blog"
 * March 23, 2017 - "An open letter to Psychological Medicine, again!"
 * March 13, 2017 - "An open letter to Psychological Medicine about “recovery” and the PACE trial"
 * November 28, 2016 - "Trial By Error, Continued: A Follow-Up Post on FITNET-NHS"
 * November 21, 2016 - "Trial By Error, Continued: The New FITNET Trial for Kids"
 * September 22, 2016 - "Trial By Error, Continued: The Real Data"
 * September 1, 2016 - "Trial By Error, Continued: My Questions for Lancet Editor Richard Horton"
 * August 29, 2016 - "Once Again, Lancet Stumbles on PACE"
 * February 1, 2016 - "Trial By Error, Continued: A Few Words About 'Harassment'"
 * January 19, 2016 - "Trial By Error, Continued: More Nonsense from The Lancet Psychiatry"
 * January 7, 2016 - "Trial By Error, Continued: Did the PACE Trial Really Prove that Graded Exercise Is Safe?" (coauthored by Julie Rehmeyer)
 * January 4, 2016 - "Trial By Error, Continued: Questions for Dr. White and his PACE Colleagues"
 * December 22, 2015 - "Revisiting the PLoS One economics analysis of PACE"
 * December 17, 2015 - "A request for data from the PACE trial"
 * November 17, 2015 - "Trial by error, Continued: PACE Team’s Work for Insurance Companies Is “Not Related” to PACE. Really?"
 * November 13, 2015 - "An open letter to Dr. Richard Horton and The Lancet"
 * November 9, 2015 - "Trial By Error, Continued: Why has the PACE Study’s Sister Trial been Disappeared and Forgotten?"
 * November 4, 2015 - "Trial By Error, Continued: Did the PACE Study Really Adopt a ‘Strict Criterion’ for Recovery?"
 * October 30, 2015 - "David Tuller responds to the PACE Investigators"
 * October 30, 2015 - "PACE trial investigators respond to David Tuller"
 * October 23, 2015 - "TRIAL BY ERROR: The Troubling Case of the PACE Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Study (final installment)"
 * October 22, 2015 - "TRIAL BY ERROR: The Troubling Case of the PACE Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Study (second installment)"
 * October 21, 2015 - "TRIAL BY ERROR: The Troubling Case of the PACE Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Study"
 * November 23, 2011 - "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and the CDC: A Long, Tangled Tale"

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

Other print media
 * October 27, 2016 - "Worse Than the Disease" in Undark
 * November 18, 2015 - "Reporter Excoriates Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Study: I Stopped at 14,000 Words-Enough Was Enough" in California Magazine
 * January 27, 2014 - "How 'Chronic Fatigue Syndrome' Obscures A Serious Illness" in Buzzfeed

Online presence

 * Twitter
 * Crowdrise (2017) Virology Blog's Trial By Error: Reporting on PACE, ME/CFS and Related Issues

Learn more

 * Berkeley Wellness - David Tuller