Kenneth Friedman

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Kenneth J. Friedman, PhD, is a retired Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Physiology, New Jersey Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of NJ, Newark, New Jersey. He was a trainer of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Continuing Medical Education Course and delivered continuing medical education courses to physicians and other healthcare professionals throughout the United States. After the CDC discontinued its continuing medical education course for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, he developed his own continuing medical education course for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, approved by the American Academy of Family Physicians, and delivered that program to physicians around the U.S.[1] He retired after he was denied promotion, officially reprimanded, and subjected to an ethics investigation, merely for researching ME/CFS at a medical school that did not include ME/CFS in its curriculum.[2] His passion for ME/CFS advocacy is fueled by the fact that his daughter has CFS and fibromyalgia after getting mononucleosis her freshman year in college.[3]

Advocacy[edit | edit source]

Boards[edit | edit source]

Dr. Friedman has served on the Board of the International Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (IACFS/ME) and is a Trustee of the New Jersey ME/CFS Association (NJMECFSA). Dr. Friedman was, also, the Secretary and Chair of Public Policy for PANDORA Org and an advisor to the website cfsKnowledgebase.[4] He is currently serving as a Board member of both the New Jersey ME/CFS Association and the The Vermont CFIDS Association.[1]

CFSAC[edit | edit source]

From 2003-2006, he served on the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee (CFSAC) for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as a member of the Research Committee. During his term, he wrote a Research Committee minority report entitled, “Fish Or War." In it he argues that the National Institutes of Health had not solved CFS in the past 15 or 20 years, so new "more aggressive funding elements should be incorporated into the United States’ future funding of CFS research."[5]

In 2014, he was the Sub-group Chair of the CFSAC Working Group justifying the establishment and funding of ME/CFS Centers of Excellence by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.[6][3]

Open letter to The Lancet[edit | edit source]

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. Friedman, along with 41 colleagues in the ME/CFS field, signed the second letter.

Writing committees[edit | edit source]

Dr. Friedman was a member of the writing committee for several primers and manuals, including:

  • 2002, Consensus Manual for the Primary Care and Management of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome sponsored by The Academy of Medicine of New Jersey and the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services. The authored the first chapter "Pathophysiology in CFS" and co-authored chapter 3, "Infections in CFS," and chapter 10, "Gastrointestinal Symptoms in CFS."[7]
  • 2006, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in Children and Adolescents[8]

Speaking engagements[edit | edit source]

Articles[edit | edit source]

"The report was written to develop a series of recommendations to assist in the development of policies that will guide future ME/CFS research, education and patient support. The IOM report needs to be placed in the broader ME/CFS environment. Additional input regarding the historical, medical, social and research environment of ME/CFS needs to be received by the Department of Health and Human Services prior to the development of new ME/CFS policies and initiatives. That input should be provided by responsible ME/CFS researchers, clinicians, healthcare educators, patient advocacy organizations, patients, social scientists and social services organizations. Only then can the correct path forward for ME/CFS be projected."[1]

Notable studies[edit | edit source]

Talks and interviews[edit | edit source]

See also[edit | edit source]

Learn more[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Friedman, Kenneth J. (March 17, 2015). "A Researcher's Review of the IOM Report: Beyond Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Redefining an Illness" (PDF). immunedysfunction.org.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Friedman, Kenneth J. (April 8, 2011). "Elephants in the Room: Acknowledging Impediments to ME-CFS Research, Education, and Clinical Care" (PDF). immunedysfunction.org.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Johnson, Cort. "An Interview With Researcher, Advocate and Author Ken Friedman Ph.D. Part I: The Federal Response to ME/CFS and the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee. By Cort Johnson". Phoenix Rising. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  4. "Kenneth Friedman P.hD". Health Rising. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  5. "Fish or War?". immunedysfunction.org. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  6. http://www.hhs.gov/advcomcfs/meetings/minutes/cfsac-dec3-2014-meeting-minutes-rev-3-02-2015.pdf
  7. Oleske JJ. A Consensus Manual for the Primary Care and Management of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The Academy of Medicine of New Jersey, The New Jersey Department of Health & Senior Services; 2002.
  8. Oleske, James M.; Friedman, Kenneth J.; Kaufman, Kenneth R.; Palumbo, Donna; Sterling, Jonathan; Evans, Terri Lynn (2006), "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in Children and Adolescents", Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, 13 (2–3), doi:10.1300/J092v13n02_07
  9. Members of the IACFS/ME, Primer Writing Committee. "ME/CFS: A Primer for Clinical Practitioners". IACFS/ME. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  10. Rowe, Peter C.; Underhill, Rosemary A.; Friedman, Kenneth J.; Gurwitt, Alan; Medow, Marvin S.; Schwartz, Malcolm S.; Speight, Nigel; Stewart, Julian M.; Vallings, Rosamund; Rowe, Katherine S. (2017), "Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Diagnosis and Management in Young People: A Primer", Frontiers in Pediatrics, 5 (121), doi:10.3389/fped.2017.00121
  11. Solve M.E. Webinar: Advances in ME CFS Research and Clinical Care, retrieved October 21, 2019
  12. "Increasing Efficacy of the CDC's ME/CFS Educational Program". #MEAction. October 13, 2016. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  13. Friedman, Kenneth; Bateman, Lucinda; Bested, Alison C.; Nahle, Zaher (August 2019). "Editorial: Advances in ME/CFS Research and Clinical Care". Frontiers in Pediatrics. doi:10.3389/fped.2019.00370.
  14. Sunnquist, Madison; Nicholson, Laura; Jason, Leonard A.; Friedman, Kenneth J. (April 2017). "Access to Medical Care for Individuals with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Call for Centers of Excellence" (PDF). Modern Clinical Medicine Research. 1 (1). doi:10.22606/mcmr.2017.11005. ISSN 2521-0637. PMID 28713878.