Article: Stars Not Aligning Any More: CFS NIH Grant Panel (SEP) Reverts, McClure on Board

Article: CFS NIH Grant Panel (SEP) Feb 2010

You can view the page at http://forums.aboutmecfs.org/content.php?356-CFS-NIH-Grant-Panel-(SEP)-Feb-2010

 

Here's a letter posted on the XMRV Global Action Site by Wild Daisy

http://www.facebook.com/notes/xmrv-...hich-approves-nih-grants-fo/10150097611011797

Please feel free to copy and paste this letter or any part of it to send to anyone you want. ​

​

​

I sent the letter below to Kathleen Sebelius, Francis Collins, Dennis Mangan, my two US Senators from Florida and my Congressional Representative.​

You can see discussion of this issue here: http://www.mecfsforums.com/index.php/topic,5276.0.html​

Letter:​

Myra McClure, Ph.D. has been appointed to membership on the Center for Scientific Review Special Emphasis Panel, ZRG1 CFSH80 2/22/2011-2/23/2011 meeting.​

I protest this appointment for the following reasons:​

1) Dr. McClure is not a United States Citizen. Why should a United Kingdom resident be deciding which applicants receive research grants in the United States? In addition to questions of legality which arise from this, there are further questions of expense, since Dr. McClure's travel expenses will, of necessity, be higher than those of a United States resident.​

2) Dr. McClure has publicly stated that she has no interest in research in the area of Chronic Fatigue
Syndrome.​

Nothing on Gods Earth could persuade me to do more research on CFS. ​

Source is this articlehttp://www.sciencemag.org/content/329/5987/18.summary​

3) Dr. McClure has publicly stated that she is biased as to study of the XMRV retrovirus, which is a
active area of research in the area of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.​

"Professor McClure was a co-author of the paper published in Plos One in January 2010 titled, Failure to Detect the Novel Retrovirus XMRV in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. As the papers name suggests, this study found no evidence of XMRV or MLV in CFS patients or controls. This study can be found here:http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0008519
Professor McClure has publically stated on many occasions that there is a high possibility that the XMRV/MLV related virus findings being implicated in CFS are a consequence of contamination."​

Seehttp://livingwithchronicfatiguesynd...or-myra-mcclure-about-xmrv-and-contamination/​

I ask that Dr. McClure be removed from this committee and that a qualified retrovirologist who is a resident of the United States be appointed instead.​

Cordially,
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=185904741443919&id=100001385235698​

 

Cort -.Did you mean 2011?

The McClure appointment is unreal. She said the following "Nothing on God's Earth could persuade me to do more research on CFS". At the time I found it comforting. Now shes on a position to us much harm. How is out that a non-citizen sits on this panel? Who makes the appointments?

 

anyone know when they participate in the voting of grant money, and if so when the money is to be distributed for this upcoming year? And where it will go as well(how is that decided?)

 

Cort -.Did you mean 2011?

The McClure appointment is unreal. She said the following "Nothing on God's Earth could persuade me to do more research on CFS". At the time I found it comforting. Now shes on a position to us much harm. How is out that a non-citizen sits on this panel? Who makes the appointments?

Whoops...still stuck in last year...

I think it's just the weirdest thing. Just think we went from Frank Ruscetti to Myra McClure sitting on that panel!!! What a change of emphasis that is... That's not a good sign. I can't but think they are sending a message...It's like a stick in the eye....why her?

There is a head of the Panel that is supposed to gather the appts. It was Hoffeld before..I don't know who it is now..

I think everybody should protest - use WildDaisy's form above.....

 

anyone know when they participate in the voting of grant money, and if so when the money is to be distributed for this upcoming year? And where it will go as well(how is that decided?)

It's complicated. There are people on the Boards who know. Given the makeup of that panel, though, any viral or retroviral grant will be reviewed by Maureen Hanson and Myra McClure and I think one other person. I assume a really slow score by one score would be enough to kill a grant's chances - but I'm not sure how it works.

 

Its Brian Hoshaw...There are two leaders - one does the CFS SEP twice a year and one once a year. This is Brian's turn.....Lynn did the last (really good one).

• http://www.csr.nih.gov/Roster_proto/allother_sep.asp

ZRG1 CFS-H 80 Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia Syndrome, Temporomandibular Disorders BRIAN HOSHAW Recurring SEP

ZRG1 CFS-M 80 Chronic Fatigue Syndrome LYNN LUETHKE Recurring SEP

Brian Hoshaw, Ph.D.
Division of Neuroscience, Development and Aging

Scientific Review Officer
Integrative, Functional and Cognitive Neuroscience (IFCN)
Neurotoxicology and Alcohol (NAL)

NIH/CSR
Center for Scientific Review, Room 5181
6701 Rockledge Dr. Bethesda, MD 20892

Email: hoshawb@csr.nih.gov
Phone Number: 301-435-1033

Brian Hoshaw is a Scientific Review Officer for the Neurotoxicology and Alcohol and Behavioral Neuroscience Fellowship study sections in the Integrative, Functional and Cognitive Neuroscience Integrated Review Group. Dr. Hoshaw received his Ph.D. in experimental psychology from Temple University. He then worked as a postdoctoral fellow and research associate in the Psychiatry Department at the University of Pennsylvania.


Lynn Luethke, Ph.D.
Division of Neuroscience, Development and Aging

Scientific Review Officer
Integrative, Functional and Cognitive Neuroscience (IFCN)
Auditory System (AUD)

NIH/CSR
Center for Scientific Review, Room 5166
6701 Rockledge Dr. Bethesda, MD 20892

Email: luethkel@csr.nih.gov
Phone Number: 301-806-3323

Dr. Lynn E. Luethke serves as the Scientific Review Officer for CSRs Auditory Study Section. After receiving her Ph.D. in hearing science at Vanderbilt University, Dr. Luethke worked as a clinical audiologist in private practice. She then went to Southern Connecticut State University, followed by Howard University in Washington D.C., where she was an assistant professor of audiology and the director of the audiology clinics at those universities. She joined the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders at the NIH in 1992 as a program director in the hearing program, overseeing systems-level auditory neuroscience and audiology and coordinating the institutes small business programs. She joined CSR in February of 2008.

 

Hi Cort and all... unfortunately, I think Maureen Hanson will be excluded from reviews of WPI grant proposals because of her recent collaboration with them, as that's considered a conflict of interest. That leaves McClure as the sole 'expert' on the panel for consideration of any WPI study proposals. Isn't that adorable? I hope as many people write in as possible; Wildaisy's whole note on FB is here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/notes/wildaisy-fl/protest-myra-mcclure-appointed-to-nih-sep-committee-which-approves-nih-grants-fo/185904741443919

McClure has too much potential bias as the author of a negative study in the field and due to the many very public, emphatic (and sometimes extreme) comments she has made about XMRV-CFS association and about the Science paper/ WPI (not to mention a videotaped conflict with Dr. Mikovits at the XMRV workshop..). Hard to understand why being the author of a negative study doesn't strike the NIH as inherently creating a possible conflict of interest in reviewing WPI XMRV proposals. Taken together, these points make a strong argument that McClure has an unacceptable level of potential bias and should not be included on a panel evaluating study proposals on XMRV-CFS association, particularly those by the WPI and its collaborators. More discussion here: http://www.mecfsforums.com/index.php/topic,5286.msg58573.html#msg58573

This really is a slap in the face. Time to raise hell!

 

thanks for answering the question to your knowledge cort. See, as the people, we need to know this type of information. and if Cort, one of the main people involved in this disease does not know specifics, that is problematic in more ways than one.

 

I sent this to Dr. Hoshawb

Dear Dr. Hoshawb

I must protest your inclusion of Dr. McClure on the CFS SEP panel. Her history with CFS research has been a decidedly turbulent one. Her negative XMRV study showed up just months after the Science paper and was critiqued by many researchers as being an inadequate rush job. Indeed, it took several months for the next paper to appear. Dr. McClure publically said CFS was not associated with XMRV in the UK at the time - a rather wild statement given the limited purview of her paper. Later she said she would never work on CFS research again. Throughout the volatile XMRV debate she has been a very public figure - penning editorials and appearing before the media. Her association with Dr. Wessely has been quite disturbing to many. While researchers such as Dr. Coffin have continued to 'sit on the fence' regarding XMRV she has made it very clear that she believes the finding is spurious.

Now this UK researcher, in the midst of the controversy over XMRV, pops up on the US panel that reviews XMRV/CFS related grants. You can imagine how this appears to the CFS Community! I assume you could have gotten a researcher without the negative connotations but chose not to. There are only a handful of researchers that would have been disturbing and you picked the most disturbing one! It's utterly astonishing to us.

Whatever the reason for the choice it certainly feeds into the idea that the federal government is 'against CFS'. By choosing Dr. McClure you have undermined the legitimacy of the scientific process at the NIH in the minds of the CFS Community...That's not hard to do for a community of 1,000,000 people that receive all of $4,000,000 a year in funding. They need signs of support or at least evenhandedness - not this...

 

Hi Cort and all... unfortunately, I think Maureen Hanson will be excluded from reviews of WPI grant proposals because of her recent collaboration with them, as that's considered a conflict of interest. That leaves McClure as the sole 'expert' on the panel for consideration of any WPI study proposals. Isn't that adorable? I hope as many people write in as possible; Wildaisy's whole note on FB is here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/notes/wildaisy-fl/protest-myra-mcclure-appointed-to-nih-sep-committee-which-approves-nih-grants-fo/185904741443919

Good point! Please provide Dr. Hobshaws email address to the ME/CFS Forums. (As you know I am no longer allowed to post there )He is the one that put together the panel I believe. Email: hoshawb@csr.nih.gov

 

Thanks Cort.. actually his name is Brian Hoshaw, and there's info on him here: http://www.csr.nih.gov/photodisplay/finalroster.aspx?f=Brian&l=Hoshaw&e=hoshawb&srg=CFSH

Seems his PhD is in experimental psychology. And he had the main hand in selecting the panel. More adorable!

 

This is all just too "adorable." I Just can't take it anymore.

:Retro mad:
:In bed:

 

Me too Leela, I'm sick of this crap. And maybe that's exactly what they want. Thing is we won't just crawl off into the shadows...we are going to get more and more angry, reorganize and unite a stronger force, and knock the doors down. But, I am holding out a smidgen of hope that there is a descent explanation for this bizarre McClure appointment.

It would seem to me that if the Lipkin study replicates WPI, then it won't matter if they have Yosemite Sam on the CFS NIH grant panel (although I'd take him over McClure any day). Money will rain from the skies in that event. But if Lipkin concludes xmrv is benign, we are in big trouble with the likes of this panel deciding ME/CFS research dollars. Either way, it seems best to confront this situation now.

 

it won't matter if they have Yosemite Sam on the CFS NIH grant panel (although I'd take him over McClure any day

Still laughing, Cloud! And I totally agree! At least Yosemite Sam would come at CFS guns ablazin'!

 

Thanks Cort.. actually his name is Brian Hoshaw, and there's info on him here: http://www.csr.nih.gov/photodisplay/finalroster.aspx?f=Brian&l=Hoshaw&e=hoshawb&srg=CFSH

Seems his PhD is in experimental psychology. And he had the main hand in selecting the panel. More adorable!

Thanks, Dr. Yes, I guess we didn't get off on the right foot At least we sending a message. (WD said PLease do not send to Wanda Jones, by the way, she's been inundated and she has nothing to do with this). Perhaps if Mr. Hoshaw and others get enough messages this time, they won't do this next time.

Here are some emails WD posted. I question whether to send to Dennis...he already has enough work to do.

• kathleen.sebelius@hhs.gov
• francis.collins@nih.gov
• dennis.mangan@nih.gov
• toni.scarpa@nih.gov

 

Omg ... Speechless. Somebody wake me up. This is kafkaesque.

 

I have sent a whirlwind of emails and also contacted my representatives, Amy at WSJ and Mindy at CFS Central. Unbeleivable......:Retro mad:

 

Similar whirlwind accomplished here, despite desire to stick head in sand whilst attempting to tear out fistfuls of own hair.

 

This is just not beliveable, just when messages seem to be coming out that a new chapter of understanding and co operation was actually begining to take place. They do this. Some people are clearly not happy, and im afraid this looks like the response. Mclure must be laughing her head off, and now has one over the WPI, Judy must be outraged. I wonder about Mclures motivation in trying to get this post, Its so obviouse what her motivation actually is, that im amazed they allowed her to get this position. Its a conflict of interests on so many levels. Im sorry to say it looks like a message is being sent out by some in power who are not happy with the way things have been going, and appear to be trying to do a re balancing act, back to the good old days. Im shocked and saddened by this news. When will The proof finally come that will make the likes of mclure, and the brigades that think like her quitely go away and let the real job, of good balanced scientists get to the bottom of this ghastly disease. what ever next, wessley as head of the NIH.This is so totaly wrong. its two fingers up at the ME commnunity. two fingers up at the xmrv discovery. and two fingers up at the wpi. The person responsible for allowing her to get this position knows all of this, so it looks like thats why it was allowed. what are they thinking. im just dismayed. lost for words. she is not a american national. her bias is so clearly publicly known. its like getting wessleys foot in the door at the NIH. Sorry i knows these words will anger everyone. And thats what everyone should be. Its totally disgusting behaving like this. All the good things that have happened will be undermined by this. and thats why its a conflict of interests.