The Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Fibromyalgia Society of Alberta

The 1st Alberta Interdisciplinary Research Symposium and Discussions

These Lectures are for Researchers and clinicians of all disciplines who work with patients/clients with disabling fatigue in chronic disease. This includes autoimmune disorders, chronic infection, chronic liver disease, pulmonary and heart disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, overtraining and stress syndromes and fatigue of unknown causes.

Saturday, November 8th, 2008
9:00 am - 4:30 pm
Libin Lecture Theatre, University of Calgary

Format:

The morning will consist of short oral presentations by invited speakers to summarize areas of study and emerging questions. The afternoon will include oral and poster presentations from among those submitted followed by facilitated small groups to enable networking and knowledge development. The day will end with a large group discussion of directions for further study of disabling fatigue.

Objectives:

• To facilitate interdisciplinary discussion about disabling fatigue.
• To develop research questions about disabling fatigue. For example how does fatigue vary among various medical conditions? What is the etiology of disabling fatigue? How can disabling fatigue be evaluated? How can disabling fatigue be optimally managed?
• To further the development of an Alberta wide collaboration among fatigue clinicians and researchers with the goal of funded research to answer some of the above questions.

For Registration and Call for Abstracts - see www.cme.ucalgary.ca

Keynote addresses:

• Dr. Nancy Klimas MD (Immunology, Department of Medicine, University of Miami School of Medicine and VA Medical Centre, Miami, Florida) - Researcher in immunology of HIV and CFS/ME, President of the International Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (IACFS/ME), Co-Author: Canadian Consensus Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of ME/CFS - “Biologic mediators of Fatigue”

• Dr. Alison Bested MD (Hematological Pathology, Toronto, Ontario) - Clinical practice dedicated to patients with disabling fatigue, Acting medical director of the Environmental Health Clinic at Women’s College Hospital Toronto, Co-Author: Canadian Consensus Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of ME/CFS
- “What are the important clinical questions in disabling fatigue research?”

Confirmed Speakers:

• Dr. Carey Johnson MD (Medical Genetics, Calgary) - “Disabling Fatigue in Ehrlers Danlos Syndrome”

• Dr. Bryan Kolb PhD (Chair, Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, U of L) - “Brain Plasticity and Fatigue”

• Dr. Brian MacIntosh PhD (Kinesiology, U of C) - “Central and peripheral mechanisms of muscle fatigue”

• Dr. Karin Olson PhD (Nursing, U of A) - “A new paradigm for understanding fatigue”

• Dr. Steve Simpson MD FRCP(C) (Psychiatry, U of C) - “Managing fatigue in cancer survivors”

• Dr. Neil Skjodt MD (Sleep Medicine, U of A) - “Sleep assessment and disorders in chronic fatigue”

• Dr. Mark van Ness PhD, Staci Stevens MA (Sport Sciences, University of the Pacific, Stockton, California)
- “Using cardiopulmonary exercise testing to determine metabolic function and disability”

For registration form, please go to www.cme.ucalgary.ca//shortcourses

Registration Information