Courtney Miller

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Courtney Alexander Miller, is a member of the Board of Directors and an online writer at Simmaron Research, a non-profit organization based in Incline Village, Nevada, which works to advance translational science in treating neuroimmune diseases like CFS/ME.[1]

Advocacy work[edit | edit source]

While advocating for her husband, Robert Miller, who lives with ME/CFS, she spoke to President Barack Obama at a 2011 town meeting in Reno. Miller asked that the President encourage more scientific research for ME/CFS. The President stated: "I will confess to you that, although I had heard of CFS, I don't have expertise in it.... what I promise I will do when I get back is I will have the National Institutes of Health explain to me what they're currently doing and start seeing if they can do more on this particular ailment."[2] See video of Courtney Miller speaking to President Obama

On 26 July 2012, President Obama wrote a follow-up letter to Courtney Miller, reporting that he had "asked Dr. Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., the director of NIH for a status report on what NIH is doing to find a cure for CFS... I have asked [Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy,] Nancy-Ann [DeParle] to stay in touch with Dr. Collins at NIH and Dr. Koh at HHS about my interests in CFS."[3]

Read President Obama's Letter

Awards[edit | edit source]

ProHealth honored both Robert and Courtney Miller with its first ME/CFS Advocates of the Year Award in May 2013, citing their ongoing work to recruit public officials to join them in championing for ME/CFS research. Some of the influential people they've engaged in conversation on behalf of ME/CFS are: President Obama, Vice-President Biden, Director of the NIH Dr. Frances Collins, Assistant Secretary of Health Howard Koh, CDC CFS Chief Dr. Elizabeth Unger, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.[4]

Ampligen advocacy[edit | edit source]

In May 2016, the Trans-NIH ME/CFS Working Group published a Request for Information (RFI) seeking the public’s input on needs, opportunities and strategies for ME/CFS research and research training.[5] Robert and Courtney Miller wrote that the: "NIH should immediately fund a small, well-powered clinical trial to demonstrate efficacy of Ampligen for treatment of ME/CFS patients or a subset thereof, soliciting applications in 2016 from clinicians experienced in treating patients with Ampligen. The trial should be double-blind, placebo-controlled, demonstrating efficacy and characterizing responders." The RFI was co-signed by several other ME/CFS advocacy groups and included an attachment of "a sampling of 800 email testimonies appealing to the FDA to approve Ampligen"...[and] a 2015 letter by leading ME/CFS clinicians and experts urging the federal government to move toward approval of Ampligen."[6]

Talks and interviews[edit | edit source]

  • 2012, ME/CFS Alert Episode 33 - Interview with Courtney Miller

CFSAC testimony[edit | edit source]

FDA Advisory Committee Hearing testimony[edit | edit source]

Online presence[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]