Looking at the list of people involved in the NIH study, Ian Lipkin should be a good antidote to the likes of Walitt.
Lipkin has said on numerous occasions, quite clearly, that he believes ME to be a biological disease, and not psychiatric.
Ian is definitely interested in finding biological answers. He spent $200,000 of his own personal savings on a ME research study looking for such biological answers. I think that speaks volumes about his commitment. Lots of researchers say they are really committed to finding answers about a disease, but their commitment usually stops short of spending heaps of their own money on it.
Maybe he personally doesn't see ME patients in clinical practice, but the patients he has studied in his research are patients of Dr Montoya, Klimas, Peterson, etc., so that kind of hints at what he thinks a genuine ME patient should look like. Hopefully that will carry over into this NIH study and he will use his influence to ensure the right patients are selected.
He holds a senior position in this study alongside Elizabeth Unger, so he does have influence, and I'll be really surprised if he doesn't use it in a good way.
I think it's important not to throw the baby out with the bath water. Whilst there are the serious Walitt-type problems I think it's important to recognize that people like Ian Lipkin really do "get it" and really are fighting for us. I'm not happy about certain aspects of this study but I'd be very worried if Lipkin wasn't involved. A strong, committed, experienced voice like his will mean the Walitt's don't have things all their own way. It will be interesting to see how things turn out.