ME expert group

The Medical Research Council CFS/ME Expert Group or MRC CFS/ME Expert Group is a part of the UK Medical Research Council, which discusses CFS/ME research projects decides on their funding. A number of meetings of the CFS/ME Experts Group were held from 2008 to 2010.

Purpose

The MRC ME/CFS Expert Group aimed to bring together leading experts in the field of ME/CFS and associated fields that may be involved in the underlying mechanisms of ME/CFS, plus representatives from patient charities. The Group was chaired by Professor Sir Stephen Holgate.

Aims

The aim of the group was to explore ways in which to encourage new research in the ME/CFS field. The group looked at new technologies and associated areas of research that could help inform the diverse range of symptoms and possible underlying causes of ME/CFS.

Members of the group were involved in various activities in the field, including the 2009 MRC ME/CFS Research Workshop and Prioritisation Meeting, informing the strategy for the 2011 MRC ME/CFS call for proposals and establishment of the 2012 MRC ME/CFS highlight notice. Several members of the Group subsequently became members of the UK CFS/ME Research Collaborative (UK CMRC), which was established in 2013.

Notable people

In attendance:

• Professor Stephen Holgate (professor of immunopharmacology and honorary consultant physician specialising in asthma & allergy, University of Southampton – Chairman)
• Dr Esther Crawley (Paediatrician, Professor in Child Health with a background in paediatric rheumatology, University of Bristol)
• Professor Malcolm Jackson (professor of musculoskeletal biology, University of Liverpool)
• Dr Derek Pheby (Epidemiologist, National CFS/ME Observatory)
• Professor Anthony Pinching (professor of immunology, Peninsula Medical School)
• Dr Charles Shepherd (ME Association)
• Sir Peter Spencer (Action for ME)
• Professor Peter White (Professor of Psychological Medicine & honorary consultant liaison psychiatrist)
• Professor Philip Cowen (Professor of psychiatry & psychopharmacology, University of Oxford)
• Professor Hugh Perry (Professor of Experimental Neuropathology, University of Southampton)
• Dr Jonathan Kerr (microbiologist, St George’s University of London)
• Professor Ian Kimber (Professor of Toxicology, University of Manchester)

MRC

• Dr Rob Buckle
• Dr Joanna Latimer (Secretariat)

Meeting notes

• 2008,1st meeting of the CFS/ME Expert Group – December 2008
• 2009, 2nd meeting of the CFS/ME Expert Group – March 2009
• 2010, 3rd meeting of the CFS/ME Expert Group – March 2010

Online presence

• Website
• Twitter
• Facebook (group/page)
• YouTube channel
• Instagram
• LinkedIn

See also

• Medical Research Council