questions that remain to be answered. The following are a few of the
possibly pertinent contacts as well as some issues that may not have been
widely discussed with these contacts.
To whit: there has been considerable discussion regarding Dr. Miller's
statement of October 2009 that XMRV testing will be moved to the retrovirus
lab in the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention. What Dr. Miller did not cover
was who would be paying for the testing of XMRV in patients who may have CF=
S
depending on which definition is used to currently define whether they now
have CFS. According to former CDC contractor Kim McCleary of the CAA in 200=
8
testimony before the DHHS CFSAC, most funding for CFS is paid yearly to Abt
Associates regardless of whether they had performed the requested services.
One possible point of view is that this leaves very little money for
collaboration with external experts outside of Emory University's Psychiatr=
y
and Behavioral Division. If the CFS program doesn't have sufficient funds t=
o
pay for adequate and scientifically rigorous studies testing who does?
Nor did Dr. Miller did state who in the retrovirus lab would be put in
charge of any XMRV studies. This may be pertinent as both Drs. Walid *
Heneine* and Brian J. Mahy continue to work in the HIV/AIDS Prevention
Division.
Dr. Heneine was part of a team lead by Dr. Tom Folks who were unable to
reproduce the retrovirus work of Drs. Elaine DeFrietas, Dan Peterson and
Hilary Koprowski in CFS patients. Dr. Mahy is infamous for his participatio=
n
in the diversion of congressional CFS funding to other areas in the 1990s.
Dr. William C. Reeves also participated, but gained Whistle blower
protection when a 1998 GAO investigation revealed the misallocation of
research funds. Repayment of that funding has now run out and Dr. Miller
purportedly told CFS advocate Cort Johnson that additional funding had not
been requested. So who pays for it?
The suggestion was also made at the October 2009 CFSAC meeting that all CDC
XMRV lab work be done at a neutral lab and under the supervision of a
neutral entity such as the NCI. It's a win/win proposition. That way the CD=
C
no longer has to continue to send out emails to virologists worldwide
claiming they cannot replicate the XMRV study because they don't know who
the patients were. The CDC also avoids accusations of impropriety and
malfeasance and CFS experts and researchers are reassured that the rigorous
protocols used in the Mikovats study are adhered to. As well as verificatio=
n
that only specimens from a well-defined group of CFS patients currently
matching the specifically defined CFS patients tested by the WPI and the NC=
I
are used.
Of course the CDC is hardly the only entity who will be testing for XMRV in
CFS patient groups. Those studies should also be shown to adhere to
established protocols and rigorously defined patient groups currently
meeting the 1994 Fukada definition and the 2003 Canadian Consensus Protocol=
.
These questions and others may be addressed to all or some of the following
parties:
Dr. Howard Koh is the DHHS Secretary over both the Office of Women's Health
Research and the Office of Scientific Integrity.
c/o Ms. Dinah Bembo, Assistant to the ASH
200 Independence Avenue SW, 716G
Washington, District of Columbia 20024
202.690.7694
dinah.bembo@hhs.gov
*
*
*The two CDC contacts listed below oversee the work done by Dr. William C.
Reeves and Dr. Michael Miller regarding CFS.
*
*
*
*Mitchell L. Cohen, MD*
Director, Coordinating Center for Infectious Diseases/CDC
1600 Clifton Rd NE, Bldg 1
Atlanta, GA 30329Phone: (404) 639-1603
Fax: (404) 639-2780
Email: mlc1@cdc.gov
Rear Admiral Ali S. Khan, MD MPH
Acting Director, National Center for Zoonotic, Vector-Borne, and Enteric
Diseases, Coordinating Center for Infectious Diseases
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Mailstop A=E2=80=9026, 1600 Clifton Rd.,
Atlanta, GA 30333
Email: ask0@cdc.gov
as well as
J Michael Miller
1600 Clifton Rd NE, Bldg 1
Atlanta, GA 30329
Phone: (404) 639-3029
Fax: (404) 639-0382
Email: jmm8@cdc.gov
The Department of Health and Human Services also has a Board of Scientific
Counselors who interface with the Coordinating Center for Infectious
Diseases (CCID) which is the division the CFSRP is under at the CDC. Their
charter says they meet twice yearly, but the last minutes posted are from
2008. Note: Retroviruses and CFS are not usually what these people are
experts on, so links to official documentation, testimony or direct links
to the WPI site or possible copies of CFS expert Dr. Nancy Klimas comments
from the NYT would lend credibility to any communication.
Executive Secretary is:
EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
Janet Nicholson, Ph.D.
Senior Advisory for Laboratory Science
Coordinating Center for Infectious Diseases
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
jnicholson@clsi.org
jknl@*cdc*. <http://goog_1259429400236/>*gov <jknl@cdc.gov>
*
Members also include:
Barry J. Beaty, BS, MS PhD; Professor; Virology
Colorado State University
Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology
105 Infectious Disease Annex, Foothills Campus
Fort Collins, Colorado 80523-1692
*Barry*.*Beaty*@colostate.edu.
B.S., M.S., Ph.D. (University of Wisconsin).
Dr. Beaty is a professor of virology and is a leading researcher at Colorad=
o
State's Arthropod-Borne Infectious Disease Laboratory. His research has
included the prevention and control of diseases including yellow fever,
malaria, Dengue fever, West Nile virus, and mosquito-borne encephalitis.
Ralph DiClemente, PhD
Associate Director
Emory/Atlanta Center for AIDS Research
Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University
Atlanta, GA
rdiclem@sph.emory.edu
Term: 12/27/2007 - 9/30/2010
John Lind Gittleman, Ph.D
Dean
Odum School of Ecology
University of Georgia
Gail A Bolan, M.D.
Chief, STD Control Branch
Department of Health Services
State of California
Richmond, CA
gbolan@dhs.ca.gov
Term: 1/4/2008 - 9/30/2010
Matthew L Boulton, MD MPH (Dr. Boulton is one of the four external reviewer=
s
of the CDC CFSRP in 2008. Both Dr. James Oleske and Dr. Gudrun Lange have
publicly criticized the CDC since then.)
Associate Professor
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI
mboulton@umich.edu
Term: 12/21/2007 - 9/30/2011
Samuel Lawrence Katz, M.D.
Professor and Chair
Emeritus of Pediatrics
Duke University Medical Center
Durham, NC
Term: 1/16/2008 - 9/30/2010
Marcelle C. Layton, M.D.
Assistant Commissioner
Bureau of Communicable Disease
New York City Department of Health and Mental
Hygiene
New York, NY
mlayton@health.nyc.gov
Term: 2/20/2008 - 9/30/2010
Robert A. Weinstein, M.D.
Interim Chairman
Department of Medicine
John H. Stroger, Jr. (Cook County) Hospital
Chicago, IL
rweinste@rush.edu
Term: 9/2/2008 - 9/30/2012
Mary Elizabeth Wilson, M.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Washington, DC
mary_wilson@harvard.edu
Term: 8/29/2008 - 9/30/2012
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