The details for the investigators is starting to get lost in the spam of the other NIH study threads, so here's a thread just for them 
PROBLEMS (6)
Dr. Brian Walitt (Pain, Fibromyalgia) - He has done little or no direct research on CFS, but has clearly stated that CFS is a somatoform disorder in other papers. He attributes biological findings in certain diseases (FM, CFS, post-chemo, IBS, etc) as being psychosomatic, even when it makes no sense.
Gene expression profiles of fatigued fibromyalgia patients with different categories of pain and catastrophizing
Chemobrain: A critical review and causal hypothesis of link between cytokines and epigenetic reprogramming associated with chemotherapy
What Is Fibromyalgia, How Is It Diagnosed, and What Does It Really Mean?
Dr. Leorey Saligan (Fatigue Nurse) - Reports of fatigue and pain are a result of catastrophizing in CFS and similar diseases. "The unnecessary increase of attention to the symptom in catastrophizers may influence the person’s motivation to perform activities of daily living, making catastrophizing as an ideal behavioral marker for central fatigue." He co-authored a study with Walitt (and others) where genetic expression was interpreted to correlate with the catastrophizing of fibromyalgia symptoms.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3553502/
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/ar4395/fulltext.html
http://www.nursingoutlook.org/article/S0029-6554(13)00062-6/abstract
Dr. Fred Gill (Internist, Infectious Disease) - Has done no CFS research, but has treated patients in the past. He firmly believes in minimal testing, interpreting abnormal results as false positives, and treating with CBT and GET.
http://videocast.nih.gov/Summary.asp?File=16477&bhcp=1
https://demystifyingmedicine.od.nih.gov/DM11/02-22-2011/2011-02-22-Gill.htm
http://www.cfscentral.com/2011/02/training-day.html
Dr. Carine Maurer (Psychogenic Neurology) and Dr. Mark Hallett (Motor Control Neurology) - Strong believers in psychogenic disorders. They wrote a paper where basic physiology is ignored so that they can describe movement alterations during partial restraint as being akin to "whack-a-mole". They even suggest naming it the "whack-a-mole" sign, which seems rather contemptuous of the patients.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.sci-hub.cc/doi/10.1002/mdc3.12177/full
http://www.sciencedirect.com.sci-hub.cc/science/article/pii/S1353802015002679
http://www.neurology.org/content/84/14_Supplement/P3.008
Dr. Mark Hallett also has numerous financial ties, including to profit-driven health care marketing (Allergan/Neurotoxin Institute) and Merz Pharma. Also some patents related to the treatment of functional disorders. (see notes in papers linked above). He has classified CFS as a psychogenic disorder. In one paper, he concluded that CFS patients reduction in physical performance was indicative of being similar to patients with depression. That study was under-powered, with two control groups and many comparisons. 4 of the healthy controls were the investigators themselves.
Psychogenic Movement Disorders - The Tandon Oration
http://www.neurology.org/content/47/6/1410.full
Dr. Silvina Horovitz (Neuroimaging) - She works on Dr Mark Hallett's team, and has co-authored many pieces with him. She's not listed as an author on the worst ones (above), but is an author for a piece where 19 extra metabolites were looked at to reduce the ability to find a statistical association with GABA. An abstract poster (no full paper published) declared that patient in the study had "clinically definite" functional movement disorder, and that FMD patients have voluntary control over their movements, but merely a "reduced sense of agency".
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.sci-hub.cc/doi/10.1002/mds.23306/full
http://www.neurology.org/content/84/14_Supplement/P6.080
UNCERTAIN: (2)
Dr. Jeffrey I Cohen (Virology) - He was one of several authors involved in a bit of a weird study attempting to followup on the controversial XMRV findings. His study declared no relationship between Fukuda CFS and XMRV, but found some sort of XMRV reaction in 15% of patients and 0% of controls. Due to the low number of participants and several comparison groups, at least 30% of patients would need a positive result for it to be statistically significant. It's a bit dodgy that the study was underpowered, and declared a null result instead of a need to followup with a properly powered study.
http://virologyj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1743-422X-8-450
He co-authored around two dozen papers with Dr Stephen Straus, has thanked him in others, and was a co-author for Straus' obituary. It's not clear if he shares Straus' views about ME/CFS, but it looks like they worked closely together in researching viruses. No hint of psychobabble from Cohen.
Dr. Adriana Marques (Infectious Disease, Lyme) - Involved in post-treatment/chronic Lyme research finding no Lyme. She seems to take a very conservative stance, and possibly a bit naive about summarizing the "placebo" response present in other trials(IV fluids can in themselves have a physiological response). But at least she presents a thorough accounting of information and alternatives with no signs of spin or psychobabble. I can't see how she'd be an asset to the study, but she doesn't look like a problem either.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2430045/
LOOKS GOOD: (20)
Dr. Avindra "Avi" Nath (Neuroimmunology)- Not a whiff of psychobabble, even when opportunity arises. Someone did report a disappointing appointment with him a few years ago.
http://www.cortjohnson.org/blog/2013/09/13/no-stone-unturned-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-chronicle-12/
Dr. Ana T Acevedo (Physio/Rehab) - Note that she is a "physiatrist," not a "psychiatrist". There's very little research available, but she takes proven biological diseases seriously, albeit approaches treatment of them at least sometimes in a psychosocial ("social cognitive") manner.
http://hqlo.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1477-7525-11-55
Dr. Ian Lipkin (Virus Hunter Extraordinaire) - He's been putting a lot of effort into crowd-funding, and seems very determined to look for viruses, etc, in ME/CFS. No psychobabble!
Dr. Steve Jacobson (Neuroimmunology) - Lots of stuff involving HHV-6, at least one paper on the Lake Tahoe etc ME/CFS outbreaks. No psychobabble.
http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=616508
Dr. David Goldstein (Neurocardiology - Dysautonomia) - Lots of work in Orthostatic Intolerance. He gave a talk about OI in CFS in 2003, and sounded pretty good based on a summary by Rich van Konyenburg (richvank).
http://www.prohealth.com/library/showarticle.cfm?libid=10022
Dr. Joseph Snow (Neuropsychological Evaluation) - Cautions against diagnosing psych disorders when the reaction (anxiety) is a normal result of the physical disease. No psychobabble.
http://www.smssupportgroup.co.uk/PDFs/SPS_Specific_Studies/Neuropsychological Assessment of Phobias in SPS.pdf
Dr. Johnathan J Lyons (Allergic Diseases) - Research into Primary Immune Deficiency Diseases, which are basically genetic. No psychobabble.
Dr. Mary R Lee (Neurobehavioral Psychiatry) - Research into alcoholism and oxytocin. Frequent mention of psychosocial factors, but not in physical disease. Has used coping-based CBT in research for depression. No overt psychobabble, but no clear legitimate function in the NIH post-infection study.
http://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/ps.50.7.948
Dr. Tanya Lehky (Electromyography - Neurology) - A lot of her work involves both the nervous system and immunology, including some genetic diseases. No psychobabble.
Dr. Eunhee Kim (Biostatistics) - Pure biostatistics, no apparent involvement in psychobabble or spinning results.
Bart Drinkard (CardioPulmonary & Exercise Physiotherapist) - Lots of studies with CPET, including exercise trials. No psychobabble or spinning of results. One CFS + RA + Polymyositis paper which was pretty good, and discussed all three diseases on equal terms. The paper was careful to mention that the performance of the three groups was lower than would be explained by deconditioning.
http://www.sciencedirect.com.sci-hub.cc/science/article/pii/S1934148209004365
Dr. Joshua Milner (Genetic Pathology, Allergy) - No apparent prior involvement in ME/CFS or similar diseases. He's done a lot of investigating of non-contact allergies with a genetic origin. He was involved in a study regarding connective tissue disease. No spin or psychobabble.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4016972/
Dr. Luigi Ferucci (Gerontology) - Studies aging and fatigue, and has described CFS as a disease, and distinct from typical fatigue. No signs of spin or psychobabble.
http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2008/10/13/way_too_tired/?page=full
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1532-5415.2010.02811.x/full
Dr. Bryan Smith (Clinical Neurologist) - It looks like he's involved in looking at the neurological impact of diseases associated with infections, such as Ebola, MS, HTLV-1, etc. He works directly on Avi Nath's team as a "Staff Clinician", and has published with him. Pure biology, no psychobabble.
http://www.neurology.org/content/84/14_Supplement/P5.235
Dr. Stephen Sinclair (Affective Cognitive Neuroscience, Clinical Psychologist) - His research deals with (actual) behavioral disorders in youths, attempting to find cognitive or brain abnormalities which correlate with them. The team he works with does seem genuinely interested in finding abnormalities, and presents null results prominently instead of hiding them. The research also seems completely focused on the discovery of abnormalities, with little or no interest in promoting particular treatments.
http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org.sci-hub.cc/doi/full/10.1176/appi.ajp.2015.15020250
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3941702/
Dr. Penelope "Penny" Friedman (Clinical Patient Care) and Stacey Solin (Internal Nurse Practitioner) - Both are part of Dr Fred Gill's team, which provides patients participating in research projects with evaluation, care, and coordination of care. No research has been found from Stacey Solin, and nothing relevant from Dr Friedman.
http://clinicalcenter.nih.gov/about/news/newsletter/2008/nov08/newsletter.html
Dr. Neal Young (Hematology) - Focuses on immunology, with research into bone marrow failure diseases, and immuno-suppressive treatments. He's published a critique of publication bias which favors positive results, and has been praised as someone who likes to solve mysteries.
http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.0050201
https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...376dc6-e58a-11e1-936a-b801f1abab19_story.html
Dr. Jay Chung (Metabolism of Aging) - Investigates the decreased ability to burn calories with aging, and the molecular mechanisms resulting from calorie restriction. Purely biomedical, no psychobabble.
https://nihrecord.nih.gov/newsletters/2014/01_03_2014/story5.htm
Dr. Eugene Major (Virology, Neurology) - Previously investigated viral causes of cancer, and now researches viruses which cause progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy or affect the nervous system.
BEING INVESTIGATED: (1)
Dr. Wendy Henderson (Digestive Disorders Nurse) by @Cheshire
UNINVESTIGATED: (1)
Dr. Elizabeth Unger (CDC - Chronic Viral Disease)
PROBLEMS (6)
Dr. Brian Walitt (Pain, Fibromyalgia) - He has done little or no direct research on CFS, but has clearly stated that CFS is a somatoform disorder in other papers. He attributes biological findings in certain diseases (FM, CFS, post-chemo, IBS, etc) as being psychosomatic, even when it makes no sense.
Gene expression profiles of fatigued fibromyalgia patients with different categories of pain and catastrophizing
Chemobrain: A critical review and causal hypothesis of link between cytokines and epigenetic reprogramming associated with chemotherapy
What Is Fibromyalgia, How Is It Diagnosed, and What Does It Really Mean?
Dr. Leorey Saligan (Fatigue Nurse) - Reports of fatigue and pain are a result of catastrophizing in CFS and similar diseases. "The unnecessary increase of attention to the symptom in catastrophizers may influence the person’s motivation to perform activities of daily living, making catastrophizing as an ideal behavioral marker for central fatigue." He co-authored a study with Walitt (and others) where genetic expression was interpreted to correlate with the catastrophizing of fibromyalgia symptoms.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3553502/
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/ar4395/fulltext.html
http://www.nursingoutlook.org/article/S0029-6554(13)00062-6/abstract
Dr. Fred Gill (Internist, Infectious Disease) - Has done no CFS research, but has treated patients in the past. He firmly believes in minimal testing, interpreting abnormal results as false positives, and treating with CBT and GET.
http://videocast.nih.gov/Summary.asp?File=16477&bhcp=1
https://demystifyingmedicine.od.nih.gov/DM11/02-22-2011/2011-02-22-Gill.htm
http://www.cfscentral.com/2011/02/training-day.html
Dr. Carine Maurer (Psychogenic Neurology) and Dr. Mark Hallett (Motor Control Neurology) - Strong believers in psychogenic disorders. They wrote a paper where basic physiology is ignored so that they can describe movement alterations during partial restraint as being akin to "whack-a-mole". They even suggest naming it the "whack-a-mole" sign, which seems rather contemptuous of the patients.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.sci-hub.cc/doi/10.1002/mdc3.12177/full
http://www.sciencedirect.com.sci-hub.cc/science/article/pii/S1353802015002679
http://www.neurology.org/content/84/14_Supplement/P3.008
Dr. Mark Hallett also has numerous financial ties, including to profit-driven health care marketing (Allergan/Neurotoxin Institute) and Merz Pharma. Also some patents related to the treatment of functional disorders. (see notes in papers linked above). He has classified CFS as a psychogenic disorder. In one paper, he concluded that CFS patients reduction in physical performance was indicative of being similar to patients with depression. That study was under-powered, with two control groups and many comparisons. 4 of the healthy controls were the investigators themselves.
Psychogenic Movement Disorders - The Tandon Oration
http://www.neurology.org/content/47/6/1410.full
Dr. Silvina Horovitz (Neuroimaging) - She works on Dr Mark Hallett's team, and has co-authored many pieces with him. She's not listed as an author on the worst ones (above), but is an author for a piece where 19 extra metabolites were looked at to reduce the ability to find a statistical association with GABA. An abstract poster (no full paper published) declared that patient in the study had "clinically definite" functional movement disorder, and that FMD patients have voluntary control over their movements, but merely a "reduced sense of agency".
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.sci-hub.cc/doi/10.1002/mds.23306/full
http://www.neurology.org/content/84/14_Supplement/P6.080
UNCERTAIN: (2)
Dr. Jeffrey I Cohen (Virology) - He was one of several authors involved in a bit of a weird study attempting to followup on the controversial XMRV findings. His study declared no relationship between Fukuda CFS and XMRV, but found some sort of XMRV reaction in 15% of patients and 0% of controls. Due to the low number of participants and several comparison groups, at least 30% of patients would need a positive result for it to be statistically significant. It's a bit dodgy that the study was underpowered, and declared a null result instead of a need to followup with a properly powered study.
http://virologyj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1743-422X-8-450
He co-authored around two dozen papers with Dr Stephen Straus, has thanked him in others, and was a co-author for Straus' obituary. It's not clear if he shares Straus' views about ME/CFS, but it looks like they worked closely together in researching viruses. No hint of psychobabble from Cohen.
Dr. Adriana Marques (Infectious Disease, Lyme) - Involved in post-treatment/chronic Lyme research finding no Lyme. She seems to take a very conservative stance, and possibly a bit naive about summarizing the "placebo" response present in other trials(IV fluids can in themselves have a physiological response). But at least she presents a thorough accounting of information and alternatives with no signs of spin or psychobabble. I can't see how she'd be an asset to the study, but she doesn't look like a problem either.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2430045/
LOOKS GOOD: (20)
Dr. Avindra "Avi" Nath (Neuroimmunology)- Not a whiff of psychobabble, even when opportunity arises. Someone did report a disappointing appointment with him a few years ago.
http://www.cortjohnson.org/blog/2013/09/13/no-stone-unturned-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-chronicle-12/
Dr. Ana T Acevedo (Physio/Rehab) - Note that she is a "physiatrist," not a "psychiatrist". There's very little research available, but she takes proven biological diseases seriously, albeit approaches treatment of them at least sometimes in a psychosocial ("social cognitive") manner.
http://hqlo.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1477-7525-11-55
Dr. Ian Lipkin (Virus Hunter Extraordinaire) - He's been putting a lot of effort into crowd-funding, and seems very determined to look for viruses, etc, in ME/CFS. No psychobabble!
Dr. Steve Jacobson (Neuroimmunology) - Lots of stuff involving HHV-6, at least one paper on the Lake Tahoe etc ME/CFS outbreaks. No psychobabble.
http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=616508
Dr. David Goldstein (Neurocardiology - Dysautonomia) - Lots of work in Orthostatic Intolerance. He gave a talk about OI in CFS in 2003, and sounded pretty good based on a summary by Rich van Konyenburg (richvank).
http://www.prohealth.com/library/showarticle.cfm?libid=10022
Dr. Joseph Snow (Neuropsychological Evaluation) - Cautions against diagnosing psych disorders when the reaction (anxiety) is a normal result of the physical disease. No psychobabble.
http://www.smssupportgroup.co.uk/PDFs/SPS_Specific_Studies/Neuropsychological Assessment of Phobias in SPS.pdf
Dr. Johnathan J Lyons (Allergic Diseases) - Research into Primary Immune Deficiency Diseases, which are basically genetic. No psychobabble.
Dr. Mary R Lee (Neurobehavioral Psychiatry) - Research into alcoholism and oxytocin. Frequent mention of psychosocial factors, but not in physical disease. Has used coping-based CBT in research for depression. No overt psychobabble, but no clear legitimate function in the NIH post-infection study.
http://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/ps.50.7.948
Dr. Tanya Lehky (Electromyography - Neurology) - A lot of her work involves both the nervous system and immunology, including some genetic diseases. No psychobabble.
Dr. Eunhee Kim (Biostatistics) - Pure biostatistics, no apparent involvement in psychobabble or spinning results.
Bart Drinkard (CardioPulmonary & Exercise Physiotherapist) - Lots of studies with CPET, including exercise trials. No psychobabble or spinning of results. One CFS + RA + Polymyositis paper which was pretty good, and discussed all three diseases on equal terms. The paper was careful to mention that the performance of the three groups was lower than would be explained by deconditioning.
http://www.sciencedirect.com.sci-hub.cc/science/article/pii/S1934148209004365
Dr. Joshua Milner (Genetic Pathology, Allergy) - No apparent prior involvement in ME/CFS or similar diseases. He's done a lot of investigating of non-contact allergies with a genetic origin. He was involved in a study regarding connective tissue disease. No spin or psychobabble.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4016972/
Dr. Luigi Ferucci (Gerontology) - Studies aging and fatigue, and has described CFS as a disease, and distinct from typical fatigue. No signs of spin or psychobabble.
http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2008/10/13/way_too_tired/?page=full
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1532-5415.2010.02811.x/full
Dr. Bryan Smith (Clinical Neurologist) - It looks like he's involved in looking at the neurological impact of diseases associated with infections, such as Ebola, MS, HTLV-1, etc. He works directly on Avi Nath's team as a "Staff Clinician", and has published with him. Pure biology, no psychobabble.
http://www.neurology.org/content/84/14_Supplement/P5.235
Dr. Stephen Sinclair (Affective Cognitive Neuroscience, Clinical Psychologist) - His research deals with (actual) behavioral disorders in youths, attempting to find cognitive or brain abnormalities which correlate with them. The team he works with does seem genuinely interested in finding abnormalities, and presents null results prominently instead of hiding them. The research also seems completely focused on the discovery of abnormalities, with little or no interest in promoting particular treatments.
http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org.sci-hub.cc/doi/full/10.1176/appi.ajp.2015.15020250
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3941702/
Dr. Penelope "Penny" Friedman (Clinical Patient Care) and Stacey Solin (Internal Nurse Practitioner) - Both are part of Dr Fred Gill's team, which provides patients participating in research projects with evaluation, care, and coordination of care. No research has been found from Stacey Solin, and nothing relevant from Dr Friedman.
http://clinicalcenter.nih.gov/about/news/newsletter/2008/nov08/newsletter.html
Dr. Neal Young (Hematology) - Focuses on immunology, with research into bone marrow failure diseases, and immuno-suppressive treatments. He's published a critique of publication bias which favors positive results, and has been praised as someone who likes to solve mysteries.
http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.0050201
https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...376dc6-e58a-11e1-936a-b801f1abab19_story.html
Dr. Jay Chung (Metabolism of Aging) - Investigates the decreased ability to burn calories with aging, and the molecular mechanisms resulting from calorie restriction. Purely biomedical, no psychobabble.
https://nihrecord.nih.gov/newsletters/2014/01_03_2014/story5.htm
Dr. Eugene Major (Virology, Neurology) - Previously investigated viral causes of cancer, and now researches viruses which cause progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy or affect the nervous system.
BEING INVESTIGATED: (1)
Dr. Wendy Henderson (Digestive Disorders Nurse) by @Cheshire
UNINVESTIGATED: (1)
Dr. Elizabeth Unger (CDC - Chronic Viral Disease)
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