Charles Lapp

Charles W. Lapp, MD, is an Internist and the Medical Director Emeritus at Hunter-Hopkins Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, which has a practice specializing in ME/CFS, FM, and related conditions. Earlier in his career, he practiced family medicine and pediatrics in Raleigh, NC. He became interested in ME/CFS following an outbreak of three small epidemics of a chronic fatiguing illness in the Raleigh area. One of these outbreaks was among all the members of the N.C. Symphony Orchestra.

"Patients started coming to me with persistent flulike symptoms[...]They would work one day and have to sleep for two. Perfectly well-adjusted people became disabled almost overnight.”

From 1992 to 1995 Dr. Lapp acted as Medical Director of the Cheney Clinic in Charlotte, in collaboration with Dr. Paul Cheney. In August 1995, Dr. Lapp opened the Hunter-Hopkins Center. His center does testing for disability insurance such as the 2-day Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) and a Computer-assisted cognitive function test.

Following Dr. Lapp's retirement in 2017, the Hunter-Hopkins Center director became Dr. Vincent F. Hillman and includes Dr. Laura Black on staff.

Awards

 * 2009, Nelson Gantz Outstanding Clinician Award awarded to a physician who emulates Nelson Gantz's clinical acumen, his passion for medicine, and his empathy for persons with CFS/FM awarded by IACFS/ME

Pediatric Case Definition

 * 2006, A Pediatric Case Definition for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (Full Text)

Clinical Trials
The Hunter-Hopkins Center is currently one of two clinical sites participating in the Hemispherx Biopharma 511/open label Ampligen trials to gain FDA approval. Ampligen is an IV medication given twice weekly in the Hunter-Hopkins infusion room. For more information in this program please see this link: Ampligen study at Hunter-Hopkins.

Clinic location

 * Hunter-Hopkins Center
 * 7421 Carmel Executive Park Dr.
 * Charlotte, North Carolina 28226
 * Telephone: (704) 543-9692
 * Email: drlapp@drlapp.net

Notable Studies

 * 2017, Multi-Site Clinical Assessment of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (MCAM): Design and Implementation of a Prospective/Retrospective Rolling Cohort Study (Full Text)
 * 2016, CDC Grand Rounds: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome — Advancing Research and Clinical Education. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (Full Text)
 * 2012, A double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, clinical trial of the TLR-3 agonist rintatolimod in severe cases of chronic fatigue syndrome (Full Text)
 * 2009, Severe versus Moderate criteria for the new pediatric case definition for ME/CFS (Abstract)
 * 2007, Defining the Occurrence and Influence of Alpha-Delta Sleep in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (Abstract)
 * 2006, Recognizing Pediatric CFS in the Primary Care Practice: A Practicing Clinician's Approach
 * 1999, The Relationship Between Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Chemical Exposure
 * 1998, Downregulation of RNase L inhibitor correlates with upregulation of interferon-induced proteins (2-5A synthetase and RNase L) in patients with chronic fatigue immune dysfunction syndrome.
 * 1997, Management of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in Children: A Practicing Clinician's Approach

Talks & interviews

 * 17 Apr 2017, Dr Charles Lapp - An overview of ME/CFS Diagnosis and Management
 * 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

HHS/CFSAC Testimony

 * Oct 29, 2009 Testimony (read by [[Cort Johnson])]

Open Letter to The Lancet
Two open letters to the editor of The Lancet urged the editor to commission a fully independent review of the PACE trial, which the journal had published in 2011. In 2016, Dr. Lapp, along with 42 colleagues in the ME/CFS field, signed the second letter.
 * 10 February 2016, An open letter to The Lancet, again - Virology blog

Online presence

 * PubMed - Charles Lapp
 * Hunter-Hopkins Center Facebook page
 * Hunter-Hopkins Center website

Learn more

 * 2012, What Are The Most Important Things To Remember About CFS/FM?
 * Curriculum Vitae - Charles W. Lapp, MD