Vicky Whittemore

Vicky Holets Whittemore, PhD., is a program director of the Channels, Synapses and Circuits Cluster in the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, United States. She leads the Trans-NIH Working Group on myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). While the committee was still active, she served as the NIH Representative to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) CFS Advisory Committee, CFSAC, as an ex officio member.

In June 2016, Whittemore gave the keynote speech at the 11th Invest in ME International ME Conference in London.

Education

• Ph.D. in anatomy from the University of Minnesota Medical School
• Post-doctoral work at the University of California, Irvine
• Fogarty Fellowship at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden

Notable studies

• 2018, A Common Language for Clinical Research Studies: The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) Common Data Elements (CDEs) - (Abstract)

Talks and interviews

• 2014 - 2014 World TSC Conference: Managing Health Issues in Transition from Child to Adulthood in TSC
• 26 May 2016 - Transcript of Dr. Vicky Whittemore's ME/CFS proposal to the NIH Council
• 3 Jun 2016 - Keynote Speaker at the 11th Invest in ME International ME Conference - DVD available
• 27 Oct 2016 - IACFS/ME Conference Keynote Presentation - "New ME/CFS Developments at the National Institutes of Health"
• 26 Oct 2016 - IACFS/ME Pre-conference Event Panelist
• 2 Nov 2016 - NIH ME/CFS Advocacy Call with Dr. Walter Koroshetz, Dr. Vicky Whittemore, Dr. Joseph Breen, and Dr. Avindra Nath - Recorded call and Transcript
• 15 Nov 2016 - Medpage Today interview by Shannon Firth - "NIH Program Director Talks Team Work to Tackle ME-CFS"
• 14 October 2017 - Discovery Forum 2017: Presentation of Dr. Vicky Whittemore
• 2 June 2017 - Keynote Speaker at the 12th Invest in ME International ME Conference on "NIH Research on ME" - DVD available
• 27 Jul 2019 - ME/CFS Alert, Episode 108: MECFS Research at NIH with Vicky Whittemore, PhD

Online presence

• NIH Vicky Whittemore
• PubMed - Vicky Whittemore
• LinkedIn

Learn more

• 2016, NIH's initial response to comments and article on Walitt

See also

• ME/CFS Working Group
• 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.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a U.S. government agency dedicated to epidemiology and public health. It operates under the auspices of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a U.S. government agency dedicated to epidemiology and public health. It operates under the auspices of the Department of Health and Human Services.

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.