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Suzanne D. Vernon, PhD

Suzanne D. Vernon , PhD, is the Research Liaison at Bateman Horne Center of Excellence which specializes in treatment and research for ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia and the Chief Scientific Revolutionary of The BioCollective, a collaborative that provides storage and sales of microbiome samples for research and development.

From November 2007 to May 2015, Dr. Vernon was the Scientific Director of Solve ME/CFS Initiative, formerly known as CFIDS Association of America. While there she recognized that access to well-characterized clinical populations was a barrier to engaging more scientists in ME/ CFS research. Thus, she started the Research Institute Without Walls (RIWW), "the first nonprofit patient-centered research initiative focused on identifying diagnostic biomarkers and disease-modifying treatment for ME/ CFS. The core of RIWW is the SolveCFS BioBank & Patient Registry.

From May 1990 to October 2007, Dr. Vernon worked for the US Centers for Disease Control , first on the team investigating the human papillomavirus as an opportunistic infection in HIV-infected woman, and then in 1997, she became the CFS research group team leader, under William Reeves , MD, the Director of the CDC Chronic Fatigue Research Program.

In 2005, Dr Vernon was one of the authors of the CDC case definition of CFS , commonly called the Reeves criteria .

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mature woman at home, suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome
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Who is at risk for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)?

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Who is at risk for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)?

Chronic fatigue syndrome affects women at about four times the rate that it affects men, and the illness is diagnosed more often in people in their 40s and 50s. It can affect any sex, race or socioeconomic class. Research shows that it is at least as common in Hispanics and African Americans as it is in Caucasians. And although CFS is less common in children than in adults, children can develop the illness, particularly during the teen years.

The prevalence of CFS is difficult to measure because the illness can be difficult to diagnose, but it is estimated that at least 1 million people in the United States have CFS, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CFS is sometimes seen in members of the same family, suggesting there may be a genetic link, but more research is needed to prove this link.
CFS also may be called myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME or ME/CFS or CFS/ME) or chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS).

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