Persimmon
Senior Member
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Has it struck anyone else that the recently formed ME/CFS research institutes have been set up to do ME/CFS research (primarily) and yet avoid making this explicit in their names?
This isn't the norm for centres devoted to arthritis or cancer or diabetes or AIDS etc. I mean, a new cancer research institute isn't likely to call itself the Irregular Growth Initiative.
We have the following:
Stanford Chronic Fatigue Initiative
Chronic Fatigue Initiatiive (CFI)
Bond University's Population Health and Neuroimmunology Unit (PHANU)
Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Disease
Institute for Neuro-Immune Medicine at Nova Southeastern University
(The Mount Sinai ME/CFS Center is an exception.)
No question, they're all trying to do good work, which we sincerely appreciate. And yes, I'm sure these institutes would love to crack FM, GWS etc, as well as ME/CFS, so there's a plausible explanation for the N-I naming... and the Population Health bit relates to another organisation in partnership with Bond Uni, but...
Given the persisting prejudices against ME/CFS, might it be that it's easier to apply for grant money and seem respectable if your letterhead says that you're studying "neuro-immune disease", or even "chronic fatigue", rather than "ME/CFS" or "CFS" or "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome"? ("Chronic fatigue" mightn't be a disease, but nobody thinks you're loopy if you merely say that you're chronically tired, and so in this sense, perhaps it makes for a comparatively unobjectionable name.)
[Maybe this issue was covered when the CFI was announced??]
This isn't the norm for centres devoted to arthritis or cancer or diabetes or AIDS etc. I mean, a new cancer research institute isn't likely to call itself the Irregular Growth Initiative.
We have the following:
Stanford Chronic Fatigue Initiative
Chronic Fatigue Initiatiive (CFI)
Bond University's Population Health and Neuroimmunology Unit (PHANU)
Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Disease
Institute for Neuro-Immune Medicine at Nova Southeastern University
(The Mount Sinai ME/CFS Center is an exception.)
No question, they're all trying to do good work, which we sincerely appreciate. And yes, I'm sure these institutes would love to crack FM, GWS etc, as well as ME/CFS, so there's a plausible explanation for the N-I naming... and the Population Health bit relates to another organisation in partnership with Bond Uni, but...
Given the persisting prejudices against ME/CFS, might it be that it's easier to apply for grant money and seem respectable if your letterhead says that you're studying "neuro-immune disease", or even "chronic fatigue", rather than "ME/CFS" or "CFS" or "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome"? ("Chronic fatigue" mightn't be a disease, but nobody thinks you're loopy if you merely say that you're chronically tired, and so in this sense, perhaps it makes for a comparatively unobjectionable name.)
[Maybe this issue was covered when the CFI was announced??]