Nancy Klimas

Nancy G. Klimas, MD, is an American researcher and physician who is the Director at the Institute for Neuro Immune Medicine at Nova Southeastern University in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. She is, also: Director of Clinical Immunology Research, Miami VAMC; Professor of Medicine, Department of Clinical Immunology, College of Osteopathic Medicine, Nova Southeastern University; Chair, Department of Clinical Immunology, College of Osteopathic Medicine, Nova Southeastern University; and Professor Emerita, University of Miami, School of Medicine.

Awards

• 2011, 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
• 2014, Rudy Perpich Senior Lectureship Award, presented to a distinguished CFS/FMS scientist, physician or healthcare worker awarded by IACFS/ME.

Committees

2015 Institute of Medicine report

• Dr. Klimas was one of the ME/CFS experts on the "Committee on the Diagnostic Criteria for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" that was convened to produce the 2015 Institute of Medicine report.

Case definition authorships

• Klimas is one of the authors of the 2011 case definition, International Consensus Criteria, the 2006 Pediatric Case Definition for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, as well as, one of the authors of the 2003 Canadian Consensus Criteria for ME/CFS, published as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Clinical Working Case Definition, Diagnostic and Treatment Protocols

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee

• Dr. Klimas served as a voting member of the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from April 1, 2007 to April 1, 2011.

International Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

• Dr. Klimas served as past President of the Board of Directors of the International Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (IACFS/ME) from 2004-2009. She has been awarded the IACFS/ME Nelson Gantz Outstanding Clinician Award (in 2011) and the IACFS/ME Rudy Perpich Senior Lectureship Award (in 2014).

• Dr. Klimas serves on the editorial board of the journal, Fatigue: Biomedicine, Health & Behavior, published on behalf of the IACFS/ME.

ME/CFS Common Data Elements (CDE) Project

• Co-chair of the Immune Working Group of the Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Common Data Element (CDE) Project sponsored by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

ME/CFS Gene Study

Nancy Klimas is part of the Institute for Neuroimmune Medicine's ME/CFS Gene Study, which aims to "create a one of a kind genetic database for ME/CFS." The ME/CFS Gene Study is a worldwide internet-based study that asks for either people with ME/CFS or Healthy Controls to submit gene information they have acquired themselves. Participants answer a questionnaire to check they can take part, then arrange their own gene testing through 23andMe or Ancestry DNA, which need saliva samples to be sent by post. They then send the results electronically to the study group.

Research studies

Earlier studies

For earlier studies: Research studies of Nancy Klimas

Recent studies

• 2016, Poor sleep quality is associated with greater circulating pro-inflammatory cytokines and severity and frequency of chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) symptoms in women - (Abstract)
• 2016, Illness progression in chronic fatigue syndrome: a shifting immune baseline -(Full Text)
• 2016, Tracking post-infectious fatigue in clinic using routine Lab tests - (Full Text)
• 2016, Gastric Enterovirus Infection: A Possible Causative Etiology of Gastroparesis - (Abstract)
• 2017, Depression, evening salivary cortisol and inflammation in chronic fatigue syndrome: A psychoneuroendocrinological structural regression model - (Abstract)
• 2017, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Gulf War Illness patients exhibit increased humoral responses to the Herpesviruses-encoded dUTPase: Implications in disease pathophysiology: Herpesviruses in ME/CFS and Gulf War Illness - (Abstract)
• 2017, Fecal metagenomic profiles in subgroups of patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome - (Full Text)
• 2017, Multi-Site Clinical Assessment of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (MCAM): Design and Implementation of a Prospective/Retrospective Rolling Cohort Study - (Abstract)
• 2017, Telephone-administered versus live group cognitive behavioral stress management for adults with CFS - (Full Text)
• 2018, KPAX002 as a treatment for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): A prospective, randomized trial - (Full Text)
• 2018, Insights into myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome phenotypes through comprehensive metabolomics - (Full Text)
• 2018, Identification of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome-associated DNA methylation patterns - (Full Text)
• 2019, From biomarkers to targeted treatment: The myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and gulf war illness (GWI) story
• 2019, Leveraging Prior Knowledge of Endocrine Immune Regulation in the Therapeutically Relevant Phenotyping of Women With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - (Abstract)
• 2019, Pharmaceutical Interventions in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Literature-based Commentary - (Abstract)
• 2019, Treatment Avenues in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Split-gender Pharmacogenomic Study of Gene-expression Modules - (Abstract)
• 2019, Genetic Predisposition for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Pilot Study - (Abstract)
• 2019, Relationship satisfaction, communication self-efficacy, and chronic fatigue syndrome-related fatigue - (Abstract)
• 2020, Unravelling myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS): Gender‐specific changes in the microRNA expression profiling in ME/CFS - (Full text)
• 2020, Using Plasma Autoantibodies of Central Nervous System Proteins to Distinguish Veterans with Gulf War Illness from Healthy and Symptomatic Controls - (Full text)

Talks and interviews

There are many videos on YouTube of Nancy Klimas speaking about her work.

• 2009 Readers Ask: A Virus Linked to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• From Bedside to Bench and Back Again: Untangling the Mystery of Gulf War Illness and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• 2011 ME/CFS Management A Pathogenesis Based Approach (sponsored by ANZMES)
• ME/CFS and Exercise: VO2 Max Testing with Nancy Klimas M.D. PREVIEW
• 2014 ME/CFS Diagnosis and Name with Dr. Nancy Klimas
• 2014 ME/CFS Treatment Options Part 1 with Dr. Nancy Klimas
• 2014 ME/CFS Treatment Options Part 2 with Dr. Nancy Klimas
• Dec 1, 2016 NBCDFW video interview and transcription
• Dec 2, 2016, Episode 84 of ME/CFS Alert - Dr Nancy Klimas on ME/CFS Research, Treatment
• Jun 2, 2017, Speaker at the 12th Invest in ME International ME Conference; Speech title: Genetic Signature Study - (Video)
• Sept 13, 2017, Interview with CFS/ME researcher Dr. Nancy Klimas conducted by Zach Elwood
• May 31, 2019, Speaker at the 14th Invest in ME International ME Conference; Speech title: Integrative Medicine Approach to Treatment of ME - (Video)

Quotations

• "They experience a level of disability equal to that of patients with late-stage AIDS and patients undergoing chemotherapy"

• "I split my clinical time between the two illnesses, and I can tell you if I had to choose between the two illnesses (in 2009) I would rather have H.I.V."

Advocacy

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. Klimas, along with 41 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 - Nancy Klimas
• Nova Southeasterm University - Nancy Klimas

See also

• Dr. Gordon Broderick
• Dr. Mary Ann Fletcher
• Dr. Irma Rey
• Dr. Maria Vera
• Institute for Neuro Immune Medicine
• Research studies of Nancy Klimas

See chronic fatigue syndrome.

National Academy of Medicine (NAM) - An American non-profit, non-governmental organization which provides expert advice to governmental agencies on issues relating to biomedical science, medicine and health. Formerly known as the Institute of Medicine (IOM).

myalgic encephalomyelitis (M.E.) - A disease often marked by neurological symptoms, but fatigue is sometimes a symptom as well. Some diagnostic criteria distinguish it from chronic fatigue syndrome, while other diagnostic criteria consider it to be a synonym for chronic fatigue syndrome. A defining characteristic of ME is post-exertional malaise (PEM), or post-exertional neuroimmune exhaustion (PENE), which is a notable exacerbation of symptoms brought on by small exertions. PEM can last for days or weeks. Symptoms can include cognitive impairments, muscle pain (myalgia), trouble remaining upright (orthostatic intolerance), sleep abnormalities, and gastro-intestinal impairments, among others. An estimated 25% of those suffering from ME are housebound or bedbound. The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies ME as a neurological disease.

See myalgic encephalomyelitis.

See ME/CFS.

enterovirus A genus of RNA viruses which typically enter the body through the respiratory or gastrointestinal systems and sometimes spread to the central nervous system or other parts of the body, causing neurological, cardiac, and other damage. Since the first reports of myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), enteroviruses have been suspected as a cause of ME. Enteroviruses have also been implicated as the cause of Type I diabetes, congestive heart failure, and other conditions. Enteroviruses include poliovirus, coxsackieviruses, and many others. New enteroviruses and new strains of existing enteroviruses are continuously being discovered. (Learn more: viralzone.expasy.org)

etiology The cause of origin, especially of a disease.

cognition Thought processes, including attention, reasoning, and memory.

plasma The liquid part of blood, lymph, or milk after removing any suspended material. Most of the time, "plasma" simply refers to blood, after all the blood cells have been removed. If you also remove the clotting factors, then the plasma is referred to as "serum".

autoantibody An antibody that works against the body's own antigens, a hallmark of autoimmune diseases. Autoantibodies are the opposite of an antibodies.

central nervous system (CNS) - One of the two parts of the human nervous system, the other part being the peripheral nervous system. The central nervous system consists of the brain and spinal cord, while the peripheral nervous system consists of nerves that travel from the central nervous system into the various organs and tissues of the body.

See National Institutes of Health.

National Institutes of Health (NIH) - A set of biomedical research institutes operated by the U.S. government, under the auspices of the Department of Health and Human Services.

cytokine any class of immunoregulatory proteins secreted by cells, especially immune cells. Cytokines are small proteins important in cell signaling that modulate the immune system. (Learn more: me-pedia.org)

myalgic encephalomyelitis (M.E.) - A disease often marked by neurological symptoms, but fatigue is sometimes a symptom as well. Some diagnostic criteria distinguish it from chronic fatigue syndrome, while other diagnostic criteria consider it to be a synonym for chronic fatigue syndrome. A defining characteristic of ME is post-exertional malaise (PEM), or post-exertional neuroimmune exhaustion (PENE), which is a notable exacerbation of symptoms brought on by small exertions. PEM can last for days or weeks. Symptoms can include cognitive impairments, muscle pain (myalgia), trouble remaining upright (orthostatic intolerance), sleep abnormalities, and gastro-intestinal impairments, among others. An estimated 25% of those suffering from ME are housebound or bedbound. The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies ME as a neurological disease.

microbiome The full collection of microscopic organisms (especially bacteria and fungi) which are present in a particular environment, particularly inside the human body.