James Baraniuk

James Nicholas Baraniuk, MD, is an Associate Professor with Tenure in the Department of Medicine at Georgetown University and the Director of the Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center, located within the Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. The Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center does research on chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), Gulf War Illness (GWI) and other pain conditions, particularly in the areas of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), biomarker discovery through proteomic, metabolomic, and transcriptomic assays in blood and cereobrospinal fluid, autonomic testing and heart rate variability (HRV) and statistical analyses using machine learning, hierarchical clustering, and other data mining methods.

Education

 * 1972-1976 - B. Sc. (Hons.), Joint Honours in Chemistry and Microbiology, Dean's Honour List, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
 * 1977-1981 - M. D., University of Manitoba
 * 1978-1979 - B. Sc. (Medicine), University of Manitoba
 * 1981-1982 - Internship, Saint Thomas Hospital Medical Center, Akron, Ohio
 * 1982-1984 - Internal Medicine Resident, Saint Thomas Hospital Medical Center, Akron, Ohio
 * 1984-1985 - Senior Assistant Resident in Internal Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina
 * 1985-1987 - Fellowship in Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Duke University Medical Center

Positions of employment

 * 1987-1989 - Adjunct Scientist, Allergy Disease Section, Laboratory of Clinical Investigation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, MD
 * 1989-1991 - Visiting Clinical Scientist, Thoracic Medicine Department, National Heart and Lung Institute, London, England
 * 1991-present - Department of Medicine, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.

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

Physician guide

 * 2018 - Authored the update to BMJ Best Practice: Chronic fatigue syndrome/Myalgic encephalomyelitis

Notable studies related to ME/CFS

 * 1998, IgE Concentrations in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
 * 2000, Irritant Rhinitis in Allergic, Nonallergic, Control and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Populations
 * 2000, Tobacco Sensitivity in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) (Abstract)
 * 2002, Differences in Baseline Nasal Secretions Between Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and Control Subjects
 * 2002, Cytokines in nasal lavage fluids from acute sinusitis, allergic rhinitis, and chronic fatigue syndrome subjects. (Abstract)
 * 2005, A Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - related proteome in human cerebrospinal fluid. (Full Text)
 * 2010, Xenotropic Murine Leukemia Virus-Related Virus in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Prostate Cancer (Full Text)
 * 2011, Migraine headaches in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS): comparison of two prospective cross-sectional studies.
 * 2012, No serological evidence for a role of HHV-6 infection in chronic fatigue syndrome (Full text)
 * 2012, Dyspnea in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS): Comparison of Two Prospective Cross-Sectional Studies. (Full Text)
 * 2013, Increased Brain White Matter Axial Diffusivity Associated with Fatigue, Pain and Hyperalgesia in Gulf War Illness (Full Text)
 * 2013, Migraine in gulf war illness and chronic fatigue syndrome: Prevalence, potential mechanisms, and evaluation. (Full Text)
 * 2013, A Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) severity score based on case designation criteria. (Full Text)
 * 2017, Exercise-induced changes in cerebrospinal fluid miRNAs in Gulf War Illness, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and sedentary control subjects (Full Text) (Author Correction)
 * 2019, Chronic fatigue syndrome in the emergency department (Full text)

Talks and interviews

 * 2011, 6th Invest in ME International ME Conference 2011 - Speech Title: Cerebrospinal Biomarkers for ME/CFS
 * 2011 Conference DVD available


 * 2012, 7th Invest in ME International ME Conference 2012 (no speech title given)
 * 2013, Georgetown University to Study Post-Exertional Malaise
 * 2014, 9th Invest in ME International ME Conference 2014 (no speech title given)
 * 2016, 11th Invest in ME International ME Conference 2016 - Speech Title: Exercise testing and Orthostatic Tachycardia
 * 2019, Majority of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome fail to receive proper care in ED - Interview with Healio Rheumatology

Open letter to The Lancet
Dr Baraniuk signed two open letters to the editor of The Lancet urging the editor to commission a fully independent review of the PACE trial, which the journal published in 2011.
 * 10 February 2016, An open letter to The Lancet, again - Virology blog


 * 19 June 2018, An Open Letter to The Lancet, Two Years On

Learn more

 * Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center, Georgetown University
 * Active Research Studies currently recruiting subjects