Crawley to spread misinformation about ME to international group of paeds. in Sweden

[Countrygirl]

A worrying but inevitable development: Esther Crawley is invited to Sweden to spread her damaging, erroneous information about paediatric ME to an international group of paediatricians.

It is referred to as 'Chronic Fatigue'........but she will no doubt claim this is an alternative name for ME.

On behalf of the UK, Sweden, we do apologise for the harm one of our medics is about to cause to your children................


http://espidmeeting.org/2018/scientific-information/confirmed-invited-speakers#.WkvCJd9l-yK

WELCOME LETTER
Dear Friends and Colleagues,

On behalf of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) and the International Scientific Committee (ISC), it gives us great pleasure to invite you to the 36th Meeting of the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID) in Malmö, Sweden. The Meeting is jointly organized by the Danish and Swedish Paediatric Infectious Diseases Societies and brings together the most prominent researchers in the field of paediatric infectious diseases, epidemiology and immunology. This year's host city Malmö, at the southern tip of Sweden is a young, global and vibrant city with its neighbour Copenhagen, the wonderful capital of Denmark just across the famous Oresund bridge. Join us to interact with PID colleagues from many different countries for creative exchange of thoughts and ideas! We look forward to welcoming you to Malmö in May 2018.

CONFIRMED INVITED SPEAKERS
Confirmed as of December 21st, 2017

• Adam Finn - UK
• Andrew Read - Denmark
• Annacarin Horne - Sweden
• Anne marie van Rossum - Netherlands
• Anette Siedler - Germany
• Barbara Warner - USA
• Benoit Chassaing - USA
• Bjorn Fischler - Sweden
• Caroline Quach - Canada
• Cecilia Ferreyra - Spain
• Celine Langendorf - UK
• Christian Giske - Sweden
• Eske Willerslev - Denmark
• Esther Crawley - UK
• Federico Martinon Torres - Spain
• Kåre Mölbak - Denmark
• Katja Seme - Slovenia
• Hamid Jafari - USA
• Hanna Nohynek - Finland
• Helen Hervius Askling - Sweden
• Marco Herlod - Australia
• Mark Lorch - UK
• Miriam Frankel - Sweden
• Nigel Curtis - Australia
• Noni MacDonald - Canada
• Pablo Rojo - Spain
• Paul Brogan - UK
• Philipp Henneke - Germany
• Pinaki Panigrahi - USA
• Shamez Ladhani - UK
• Tarik Derrough - Sweden
• Volker Fingerle - Germany

http://espidmeeting.org/2018/scientific-information/meet-the-professor-sessions1#.WkvD4d9l-yI

MEET THE PROFESSOR SESSIONS
Meet the Professor Sessions will be held on Wednesday, May 30 and Thursday, May 31 between 07:00 and 07:50. There is no need to register for these sessions. If the room is full you may need to choose to attend a different session.
Meet the Professor Sessions provide participants with the opportunity to be updated about the topic of interest in a highly interactive manner. Meet the Professor Sessions at the 2018 Meeting will consist of interactive case-based discussions each with a coordinator who will select and present cases and either one or two expert discussants. The conveners may frequently use case reports with questions regarding diagnosis and management.
Participants are encouraged to submit educational or controversial cases to one of the Meet the Professor sessions (see session list below) by selecting the relevant abstract topic and sub-topic (click here to view the list), and by selecting the stream: Case Report or Case Series during the abstract submission process .

What the PID doctor needs to know Chronic Fatigue

 

[Revel]

ESPID's Board President is Adam Finn, Professor of Paediatrics at University of Bristol. By coincidence, of course . . .

 

[andyguitar]

Ah now then.....on the face of it it's bad news she has got a platform. But it also gives the other speakers and audience the chance to form the opinion that she is talking cr*p. This might be her downfall.

 

[Mary]

It's interesting that this is the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases - I don't think their mindset as a group would tend towards the BPS model (at least I hope not!)

 

[Countrygirl]

Ah now then.....on the face of it it's bad news she has got a platform. But it also gives the other speakers and audience the chance to form the opinion that she is talking cr*p. This might be her downfall.

She is very good at presenting an appealing and charming front to the audience though. I wouldn;t be too sure that they will make an accurate judgement unless they already do know some of the genuine facts about ME. She is persuasive to those who know nothing.

 

[Seven7]

The only thing would be to distribute the IOm report on Cfs or / and contact them to add somebody else

 

[Countrygirl]

ESPID's Board President is Adam Finn, Professor of Paediatrics at University of Bristol. By coincidence, of course . . .

Good catch @Revel

 

[keenly]

Why is this women invited to speak about anything? She is clueless and presents NO evidence of what she speaks.

 

[Revel]

She is persuasive to those who know nothing.

The only thing would be to distribute the IOm report on Cfs

"Chronic fatigue" is not an uncommon symptom following many a viral illness.

Crawley seems happy to concede that ME/CFS can be triggered by a viral illness. However, she then has a tendency to change her narrative from the physical to psych by implying that patients continue to exhibit "sickness behaviour" long after the virus has ceased to be active. Her treatments involve subjecting patients to CBT/GET to "encourage" them back into their normal lives.

Rather than discussing ME/CFS as such, I would expect that she will be targeting "chronic fatigue" found in other viral illnesses and suggesting to her peers that they consider applying her treatment protocol to their patients.

The Lightning Process might be too much of a hard sell to the Ebola and HIV specialists attending, but I wouldn't put it past her to beguile some with those trademark slide shows and engaging stories of hers . . .

 

[andyguitar]

It will certainly be interesting to see how Crawley gets on trying to sell her ideas to a group of people who may well wonder what on earth she is doing there.

 

[thegodofpleasure]

I note that University of Hull Professor of Science Communication, Mark Lorch is also presenting at this event.

http://www.hull.ac.uk/Faculties/staff-profiles/Professor-Mark-Lorch.aspx

https://twitter.com/Mark_Lorch

Maybe he would be interested to read DT's blog posts about Prof Crawley's "research"

 

[thegodofpleasure]

Here's another one of the UK-based speakers:

Prof Paul Brogan, who leads The Infection, Inflammation and Rheumatology Section at UCL GREAT ORMOND STREET INSTITUTE OF CHILD HEALTH

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ich/research/i...lammation/infection-inflammation-rheumatology

Unfortunately, he's not on Twitter.

 

[thegodofpleasure]

ESPID's Board President is Adam Finn, Professor of Paediatrics at University of Bristol. By coincidence, of course . . .

It's somewhat ironic that he's Chair of a World Health Organisation expert advisory group: http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-t...ge-current-members/professor-adam-finn,-chair

 

[Mary]

@Countrygirl - do you think it would be possible to do something such as @lnester7 suggested and provide ESPID with correct information about ME/CFS and about how damaging Esther Crawley and her "treatments" are? Maybe even suggest another speaker who was credible and knowledgeable? I thought of David Tuller though I guess if he were able and allowed to go, I would suggest that he just address the science and leave out everything about Crawley's libel claims, etc., nothing to detract from the serious core issues of ME/CFS.

eta: or Jen Brea?

 

[Seven7]

@Countrygirl - do you think it would be possible to do something such as @lnester7 suggested and provide ESPID with correct information about ME/CFS and about how damaging Esther Crawley and her "treatments" are? Maybe even suggest another speaker who was credible and knowledgeable? I thought of David Tuller though I guess if he were able and allowed to go, I would suggest that he just address the science and leave out everything about Crawley's libel claims, etc., nothing to detract from the serious core issues of ME/CFS.

eta: or Jen Brea?

Agreed do not engage EC. Distriute right materials and maybe a good presentation on real science ( including the excercise one For 2 day Cpet testing.
I would not put David Tuller and AC in the same room at this point, that will not end well. Spaecially since the host is from Bristol ( BPS club)

 

[Countrygirl]

@Countrygirl - do you think it would be possible to do something such as @lnester7 suggested and provide ESPID with correct information about ME/CFS and about how damaging Esther Crawley and her "treatments" are? Maybe even suggest another speaker who was credible and knowledgeable? I thought of David Tuller though I guess if he were able and allowed to go, I would suggest that he just address the science and leave out everything about Crawley's libel claims, etc., nothing to detract from the serious core issues of ME/CFS.

eta: or Jen Brea?

This sounds an ecellent idea.

Sounds a good and interesting project for TeamPR to spring into opertion to slove.

Perhaps brainstorm to obtain more ideas and then we can discuss the way ahead,

 

[Mary]

This sounds an ecellent idea.

Sounds a good and interesting project for TeamPR to spring into opertion to slove.

Perhaps brainstorm to obtain more ideas and then we can discuss the way ahead,

It also occurred to me that perhaps a real scientist like Ron Davis (I know, I'm dreaming!) would be ideal ...

Anyways, brainstorming sounds great!

 

[Revel]

There is no indication as yet as to the subject matter of EC's involvement at ESPID - no mention so far of ME, only "chronic fatigue". This may be an oversight on their part and they are referring to CFS, or it could mean exactly what it says.

Besides, who would you send the information to, the President of the Board, Adam Finn? The list of confirmed speakers? Targeting EC in this way would only feed into her claims of "harassment".

Better to wait and see what comes of this and act in response if necessary.

 

[arboretum]

The fact that they've invited her doesn't necessarily mean they support her viewpoints. Also, often when scientists talk to other scientists they are a bit more conservative in what they say, claim or imply, because they know there's a greater likelihood of being challenged.

Anyway, I don't think there's any point in trying to prevent her speaking at conferences. The fact that someone is wrong or against the scientific consensus isn't usually enough to prevent that. The point of conferences, also, is that you invite people whether you agree with them or not, or whether their views are generally accepted or not.