April is going to be an incredibly exciting month for advocacy and for research into ME!
The NIH is hosting a conference on ME in early April along with a Young Investigators Workshop specifically geared towards early-career investigators with interest in ME. Concurrently, there will be a Congressional lobbying push hosted by #MEAction and SMCI in the Washington D.C. area. There are lots of opportunities to learn, to receive travel awards, and to fight for better treatment for people with ME. So let’s break it all down and learn a little bit more about the ME community’s busy spring!
1. Advocacy Week with #MEAction & SMCI
Goal:
ME/CFS Advocacy Week brings people with ME, their loved ones, advocates, scientists, clinicians and caregivers from across the country together to call for more action and research funding, meet other advocates, and share their unique stories with members of Congress, together in one voice. The keystone event of ME/CFS Advocacy Week is Washington DC Lobby Day, a full-day Capitol Hill storm where hundreds of advocates meet face to face with members of Congress and their staff.
#MEAction needs your feet on the ground! Monday, April 1st we will need 1-2 volunteers from 2-5pm and then on Tuesday, April 2nd, we will need 1-2 volunteers help us with check-in from 12-3pm. If you can help, please contact erin@meaction.net.
#MEAction and SMCI are sponsoring several travel awards for Advocacy Week. Download this straightforward WORD (.DOC) application. Once you’ve filled it out, save it as a new file called “SMCI 2018 Lobby Day 2019 Travel Award Application – (YOUR NAME)” and email to MEAdvWeek19@gmail.com.
They are due this Thursday, February 28.
When:
Monday, April 1 (check-in, logistics)
Tuesday, April 2 (Advocacy Workshops)
Wednesday, April 3 (On The Hill)
Where:
April 1 – 2:
The Marriott Hotel
5151 Pooks Hill Road
Bethesda, Maryland
April 3:
Congressional Offices
Find out more:
[maxbutton id=”11″ url=”https://www.meaction.net/2019/01/22/register-now-for-me-cfs-advocacy-week-dc-lobby-day-2019/” text=”Read more and register”][maxbutton id=”11″ url=”http://lobby19.solvecfs.org/” text=”Learn all about Advocacy Week”]
[maxbutton id=”11″ url=”https://solvecfs.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/SMCI_MEAction-2019-Advocacy-Day-Travel-Award-Application3.docx” text=”Download the Travel Award App”]
2. Young Investigators Workshop
Thinking the Future: A Workshop for Young/Early Career ME/CFS Investigators is a workshop geared to younger individuals interested in pursuing a career in ME research. Young researchers will have the opportunity to learn from mentors in their fields, and present their own work in poster sessions.
The NIH is offering up to 20 scholarships to interested young people for travel and a per diem. If you know a researcher in the early stages of their career — even Assistant Professors are currently considered ‘early’ enough — pass the information along, and you can spread knowledge about ME in the research community. If you are a student or a young researcher yourself, consider applying, and if not, please share widely!
The #MEAction Director of Scientific and Medical Outreach was involved in helping to plan the workshop, along with Richard and Annika Simpson from Invest in ME, Sadie Whittaker from SMCI, and Linda Tannenbaum of the Open Medicine Foundation. Researchers from Nova, Cornell, NINDS, RTI, and scientist-advocates like Becky Taurog were also involved in calls.
When:
Wednesday, April 3
Where:
NIH Clinical Center
Building 10
FAES Classrooms
Find out more:
Be sure to click through the tabs at the top of the page!
[maxbutton id=”11″ url=”https://meetings.ninds.nih.gov/?ID=22837″ text=”Young Investigators Homepage”]3. NIH Conference
Goal:
The NIH conference will bring researchers from all over the world who have shown interest in studying ME. We are hopeful that the NIH will pull in researchers of different disciplines and backgrounds in order to widen the field and forge new partnerships. If you have research connections, please urge them to attend the conference and learn more about ME.
#MEAction is currently funding two medical students and two clinicians to attend the conference. Apply by clicking on the button below and filling out the Google form. We recommend that you write your answers in a separate document and paste them into the form for ease of use.
When:
Thursday, April 4
Friday, April 5
Where:
NIH Main Campus, The Masur Auditorium, Building 10 – Clinical Center, 10 Center Drive, Bethesda, MD
Find out more:
[maxbutton id=”11″ url=”http://palladianpartners.cvent.com/events/accelerating-research-on-myalgic-encephalomyelitis-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-me-cfs-meeting/event-summary-2e5f90defaa4406e8fce234835e11fdf.aspx” text=”Register for the NIH Conference”][maxbutton id=”11″ url=”https://www.meaction.net/2019/01/29/apply-to-attend-the-nih-conference-with-a-scholarship-from-meaction-open-to-medical-students-and-practicing-medical-professionals/” text=”Apply for the #MEAction scholarship”]
Questions? Comments? Reach out to info@meaction.net or leave a comment and we’ll do our best to answer.
