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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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What are the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome?

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Q: What are the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome?

A: Besides debilitating fatigue that is not alleviated by rest, common symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) include: more intense or changed patterns of headaches, reduced short-term memory or concentration, recurrent sore throats, tender lymph nodes, muscle discomfort or pain, joint pain without joint swelling or redness and sleep that is unsatisfying and fails to refresh. You may not experience all of these symptoms. The severity of symptoms varies with each individual.

Note that CFS may also be referred to as myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome.

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