Dr. Lombardi is Research Director

has this been posted here already?



"Dr. Mikovits, current Research Director of the Whittemore Peterson Institute (WPI), has been named the new Director of Translational Research. Dr. Mikovits remains an integral part of the WPI as she focuses her considerable talents assisting its strategic partners and collaborators in the translation of the most current research. She will engage in activities which support and promote the development of more effective treatments for all patients with neuro‐immune diseases. said Annette Whittemore, President of WPI. The WPIs research program will proceed with its critical basic research program under the skilled guidance of Dr. Vincent Lombardi, new Director of Basic Research and lead author of the seminal study on XMRV and CFS. Drs. Mikovits and Lombardi represent the best that scientific research can achieve when it is done with integrity and compassion and we thank them both for their extraordinary work.

What a team Daffodil and would that we could have too.

Thanks Daffodil. This looks like great news and gives me hope.

I would certainly think this is a good move on the WPI's part. Dr. Lombardi is regarded very highly from everything I have read about him. This is good for ME/CFS too!

Thanks for posting this Daffodil.

CFS Central

"The point of the change is that the basic research grants and papers are not being funded or published because of the baseless contamination rumors," Mikovits wrote to CFS Central in an email. ..... "I am totally confident that XMRV and a family of human gamma retroviruses is playing a role in ME/CFS.... [and] our reorganization reflects that confidence and allows me to move forward drug and diagnostic development."

Read more http://www.cfscentral.com/2011/03/more-on-dr-judy-mikovitss-new-role.html#comments

Weird.. Even after the statement I don't get it.

Could it mean the Dr M is going to pursue treatment for HGRVs, while Dr L is going to pursue other basic research avenues that have a better chance of being funded and published?

Did you read Mindy's statement at her site leaves?

Can you link it, Shannah?

Ah what? Looks like someone is suffering major brain fog. I can usually decipher these things, but not this time.

Sure. Here it is again

http://www.cfscentral.com/2011/03/more-on-dr-judy-mikovitss-new-role.html#comments

My guess is that Judy is going to concentrate on getting treatment trials set up, and organising partnerships with drugs companies.
Translational research is where you put the findings of research into practise to help patients, so it looks like Judy is looking towards treating people with antiretrovirals or other drugs, possibly in clinical trials with pharma companies.

She can go ahead with that because she is so confident about XMRV and she says "Whenever we show and discuss all of the details of the data with investigators, they see and know it is not contamination." This might suggest that pharma companies, and other researchers are keen to get involved with trials.

And Dr Lombardi is going to do what Judy was doing previously - lab research.

ty Shannah!

You know that quiet anger at your core? The kind that feels too deep and fundamental for yelling and ranting and raving, but more like an ember in your gut? That's how this makes me feel. Not that Judy is going to be doing "translational research," that's fine. What's not fine is that she is being embattled and shut out. Especially that she can't get research published. That isn't science, it's politics. Especially when we look at some of the shoddy psuedo-science that HAS gotten published.

Do you have a sense of deja vu? We've been here before, folks.

When the Cleaveland Clinic found XMRV in prostate cancer patients, that was okay. Other researchers looked into it, some yea, some nay, as the scientific community tried to see where it would lead.

But Judy Mikovits & the WPI find XMRV in ME/CFS patients and it brings an avalanche down on their heads. Sure, some real researchers try to go ahead with normal scientific process, but that's almost lost in the rush to discredit Judy Mikovits. Now she can't get published, she can't get funded, she can't mentor students. It sends a pretty strong message to any young researchers who might think of doing this kind of research: if you find even a potential biological cause of ME/CFS, we will bury you. Don't go there, it's professional suicide.

They keep telling us we need to be patient and let science reach the truth. That's what I want, too. XMRV may or may not be the cause of ME/CFS. But how will we ever know, if the science is buried? If impartial scientists aren't allowed to see and judge the data, because it's never published? If the studies don't happen because they don't get funded, or because scientists think it will derail their career if they do it? It makes me angry to see the scientific process subverted this way.

I agree Bob, this can only be good news. It means that Dr Judy thinks enough of the basic research has been nailed down that right now the priority is treatment. This is fantastic news for patients because ultimately treatment is what we care about. The whole point of the WPI is translational medicine, so it is great that Dr Judy is taking direct control of this. I say "Bring it on!".

I had been hoping that some part of Dr Judy's motivation for traveling the world doing talks, conferences, and speaking with as many scientists as possible, was to get them on board with the research before the inevitable political opposition came down on her and the WPI. The US and UK politico's cannot control science everywhere.

I wonder what happened to ........ "The politics will soon go away"

What I can't understand is why Judy can't get her papers published anywhere at all.
What I mean is that there must surely be at least one journal that would publish?
I thought, for example, that PloSone would publish more or less anything because you have to pay them to publish.

I was wondering if it would be worth writing to someone like Amy Dockser Marcus about what's going on, so she can do an expose of the politics involved with the journals.
But that might cause more trouble for Judy, and might not be helpful.
And I don't know exactly what Judy isn't able to publish, so I don't have much to say if I write a letter.
Anyone got any thoughts about this?

I'm sorry this is not good news, this is not about Judy. It's about CFS. This is the 1991 playbook, publish and avalanche of negative studies, kill the funding and the retrovirus goes away. Lets watch how much mud is now piled on Dr. Lombardi, and see if funding starts poring in for XMRV/CFS research.......don't hold your breath.

I see this as exactly why Judy's doing this Todd - so that we don't have a repeat of 1991! If research papers favouring MLV's are not getting published yet negative ones are, I think she's devised an ingenious way that the whole field can still move forward in spite of the many hindrances and lack of funding. By doing what she's been doing for the past few months and circulating with key people/organizations all over the globe, she's garnering the interest in continuing the research. I don't doubt for a minute that her primary goal is CFS, the patients and treatment.

Thank God she's a maverick and can think outside the box!!!