Dr Peterson retiring from medical director at WPI

[Kati]

News release from WPI:

Whittemore Peterson Institute announces search for medical director


Planned transition paves a smooth path for the fall opening of the new Institute Reno,Nev. As part of a planned transition, the Whittemore Peterson Institute (WPI) announces the national search for a full time Medical Director as Dr. Daniel Peterson retires from this position. Dr. Peterson, a pioneering physician in describing methods of diagnosing, managing and treating myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS), was one of the first physicians to identify this disease in the United States.

Dr. Peterson was a central figure in the establishment of the Whittemore Peterson Institute, remarks Annette Whittemore, founder and president of WPI.We are deeply grateful to him for his significant advice and support through the development of the Institute.

"I am extremely proud to have been a part of the creation of this medical research institute which promises to bring exciting new answers to patients with complex neuro-immune diseases, states Dr. Peterson who will continue his internal medicine practice in Incline Village, Nev.

The WPI will soon begin a national search for a new full‐time medical director and practicing physician with extensive experience in infectious disease, clinical trials and medical management.


The Whittemore Peterson Institute will move into a new 100,000‐square‐foot state‐of‐the art research and medical facility, the Center for Molecular Medicine, at the University of Nevada in the fall of 2010.


Dr. Judy Mikovits will continue to lead the comprehensive research program at the WPI, which will be the first in the world dedicated to neuro‐immune diseases integrating patient treatment, basic research, clinical trials and medical education.


To learn more about the institute and ongoing research, please visit www.wpinstitute.org.

 

[spindrift]

Oops what happened? Why did he leave?

 

[bluebell]

Oh dear. This cannot be good (just as it cannot be planned). Let's hope it's just a personality thing and nothing more sinister.

 

[Andrew]

It might have been planned that he would only help get it going. I sure hope this doesn't create a problem, because if they hire a generic medical director they will have nobody in charge with years of CFS experience.

 

[bluebell]

My thinking was, if it were planned they would already have someone in place. I also think they would have waited for the moment of "victory" in seeing their XMRV study validated, regardless of any plan. That is why I hope it is just an interpersonal differences issue and not something worse.

 

[Cort]

We can only speculate - probably fruitlessly

Its hard to understand
I thought he was retiring, period but he'll continue his practice - that's the hard thing to understand; he will continue to work but not be medical director of the WPI
Strange thing.....

He's no spring chicken; maybe he doesn't want to be the medical director of a bigger establishment. Maybe this is always the way it was going to be? That's possible. I remember him saying something about retirement at the Reno Conference - some little comment, and I thought, that's weird!

It does look strange, though,; I'm sure they know it and he knows it. Since he knows it -if he wants it to be not interpreted wrongly I would think he would make a statement about it.

I hope we get more information - otherwise some people could draw the conclusion that he's dissociating himself from the effort.

 

[Cort]

It might have been planned that he would only help get it going. I sure hope this doesn't create a problem, because if they hire a generic medical director they will have nobody in charge with years of CFS experience.

It'll be interesting to see who they get. Does Nancy Klimas want to move to Reno? Someone we've never heard of? Some hot youngish physician/researcher?

 

[JPV]

Excerpt from an article on Osler's Web dated August 2009

Across the Pond, Part One

"I knew that something had to be done quickly. Luckily, Dr. Peterson was of the same mindset. He knew that he would retire soon and so would his contemporaries. He knew that no new doctors were coming into the field. The work was difficult, the hours long. And the same obstacles that existed twenty-five years ago still exist today--with no FDA-approved diagnostics and no FDA-approved treatments. And very little money dedicated to biological research.

 

[bluebell]

I sure hope it was a beef over who got to apply for the XMRVDOC vanity plate, but both WPI and Peterson knew how much nervousness this would create in the community - and it still happened. Please let it be a little Big Thing, as in Dr. Peterson disagrees on the correct approach to treat XMRV. If he quit because of some issue about the research, ugh; cannot go there. "Planned" in this kind of letter, under these circumstances, could easily mean planned the day before in a meeting with a lot of raised voices;-).

 

[Kati]

I think it would be best not to start rumors- and respect the man who has never given up on us from day 1 up to now. Many many doctors in ME/CFS are close to retirement age, some are beyond retirement age and some have come back from it.

Such decision is very very personal, and unless he speaks out publicly we will never know.

Maybe we could organize a thank you project?

 

[ukme]

I hope they can explain this further otherwise it won't be good.

 

[Knackered]

I don't know why you're all worried, he's getting on a bit, he probably thinks he's gone as far as he can and he'd like others to further research in to the disease, especially with what's happened with XMRV, it'd be better to get some fresh blood involved.
He'd already said he was going to retire soon and now he announced he's retiring. It'll be business as usual at the WPI, everything's going ahead just as it were. Stop worrying, everything'll be fine. No use getting worked up about it.

In the words of Corporal Jones, don't panic!

 

[Esther12]

Seems strange timing and a bit worrying to me.

I'm letting myself latch on to rumors and hints that sound positive for XMRV/CFS, so I've got to pay attention to what seems more worrying to.

It could be he's confident the XMRV theory is holding up, and now feels able to retire without abandoning CFS patients - but if he was that confident I'd have thought that he'd stick around a bit and enjoy the glory.

 

[Frickly]

Ok......I am panicking a little. This could not have been planned. I do hope Peterson makes a statement regarding his "retirement"?

 

[jace]

I just hope Dr Peterson is not unwell. If he was this would explain the unexpected need to cut his workload.

 

[Cort]

The more I think about this the more 'not good' it is.

However much the patients support the WPI it is in an embattled position in the research community. They need all the support they can get. The fact that the man who's name is on the building is apparently not going to be associated with it at all (not even as an advisor?) - and is going to continue his practice just down the road - seems very strange! The announcement didn't say that Dr. Peterson is going to continue on as a senior advisor or something like that. If that's going to happen they should definitely say so and I'm surprised that they wouldn't as a matter of fact do that.

For me - if we don't hear more about this - if the WPI clams up and doesn't talk about it; if Dr. Peterson doesn't clarify why he left - then its all bad news. They know that people are going to think the worst. I've heard rumors about Dr. Peterson being not on board with Dr. Mikovits on how the WPI was going about this dating back to the CFSAC Meeting in late October. They were just rumors albeit from good sources - so I never mentioned them. Now this happens. They really need to clear the air.

If Dr. Peterson does not want the stress of the Medical Director's job - why not say so and spare the WPI the fallout? If it was planned from the beginning then he should say so and help this institute he's worked so hard to build. If you built up something precious and you knew that stepping away from it would hurt it wouldn't you do everything to ensure that that didn't happen? I would be out there placating everyone's worse fears. I would be on Facebook blogging and reassuring everyone. I would be very transparent about this.

The WPI has taken the announcement off of Facebook. Maybe they're preparing something more. I'm in the discuss everything camp so maybe I go too far in that direction but I don't think this is something you just move on from after a brief statement.

Maybe they simply made a mistake in how they presented this initially; more information and transparency would help enormously at this point.

 

[Robin]

I've heard rumors about Dr. Peterson being not on board with Dr. Mikovits on how the WPI was going about this dating back to the CFSAC Meeting in late October. They were just rumors albeit from good sources - so I never mentioned them. Now this happens.

Going about what? do you mean the direction of the research, or the public squabbling?

 

[Cort]

I just hope Dr Peterson is not unwell. If he was this would explain the unexpected need to cut his workload.

I don't know if he's cutting his workload; according to Corrine he's working all the time anyway. Of course he is getting near retirement age but then again he's not retiring! If he does feel the need to cut his workload - if that's the reason - then hopefully he'll say so- that would help alot.

 

[Esther12]

is apparently not going to be associated with it at all (not even as an advisor?) - and is going to continue his practice just down the road - seems very strange!

Yeah. They've only just finished building the institute with his name on it - if he really isn't going to continue working with them at all, that indicates to me that the departure is because he or they were unhappy about something. If Peterson was just unhappy about the way the WPI has been handling the fight over XMRV, that would be the least bad possibility imo.

The way the press release was trying so hard to emphasise how very planned, and smooth this change was going to be set off my instinctive cynicism too. (I think that the WPI's PR is often pretty poor).

 

[Cort]

Going about what? do you mean the direction of the research, or the public squabbling?

Most of it concerned being so public and not taking a more cautious stance towards XMRV - which probably, in hindsight, would have been a good thing to do. The WPI, after all, just sprang onto the scene - as a newcomer it would only help them to build their reputation in the research community as a serious, highly accountable enterprise. Kind of like the new kid on the block hanging back for awhile. Instead they made pretty bold statements and Dr. Mikovits publicly went after some researchers. That really pumped us up but I imagine it did not pump up everyone in the research community.

Look at Dr. Peterson's CFSAC presentation; it was very conservative and his remarks have been really quite cautious and conservative throughout.

I dont know why though, he'd leave now. I think Dr. Mikovits has toned down her rhetoric over the past couple of months. Why now? For me its hard to imagine that its just a personality conflict. Colleagues don't have to have the same style to work together - they just need the same goals. Personality conflicts lose their importance you've both committed to an important goal unless someone really digs in.

Here I am conjecturing away! This is what happens when you're in an information void. I hope we hear more about this from him and them.