About the Society

Dr Alan Stewart qualified in medicine from Guy’s Hospital in 1976 and underwent training in a variety of medical specialities, becoming a member of the Royal College of Physicians in 1979. He has worked in the independent medical sector since the early 1980s and wrote a variety of popular books on nutrition and women’s health. His interest in CFS/ME developed in the early 1990s and was appointed to the post of medical practitioner to the NHS Sussex CFS/ME service at the end of 2012. He maintains a broad awareness of medical problems and undertakes regular training through the Royal College of Physicians as well as through the various CFS/ME medical groups and societies. Whilst the cause(s) of CFS/ME remain uncertain Dr Stewart considers that there is now a clear and common-sense pathway to help many people with this diagnosis as well as other types of fatigue using a multidisciplinary approach. He considers that the success of the service is very much due to the presence of an experienced team of physiotherapists, occupational therapists and psychologists aided by the activities of patient support groups.

Alastair Miller was a Consultant Physician in the Tropical & Infectious Disease Unit at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital and an Honorary Fellow at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine 2005 until May 2014. He remains an Honorary Senior Lecturer at The Institute of Infection and Global Health at Liverpool University. Prior to Liverpool he was a Consultant in the West Midlands and Honorary Senior Lecturer in Infectious Disease at Birmingham University. He now works part time as an acute physician at the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle and part time in London as Deputy Medical Director at the Joint Royal College of Physicians Training Board.

Alastair trained in medicine at Cambridge and Westminster and in infectious disease in the Royal Navy, Birmingham and London. He worked with the Royal Marines in Kurdistan after the first Gulf War and was a consultant and Professor of Medicine in the Royal Navy.

He has been involved clinically with ME/CFS since his time as a registrar in the mid 1980s. He has been Chair of the British Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and ME (BACME) and Principal Medical Advisor for Action for ME (AfME).

Dr Eccles trained in medicine at University of Cambridge and University of Oxford, completing a BM BCh in The History and Philosophy of Science, sparking a keen interest in philosophy of mind and brain-body interactions, and since graduation from medical school has pursued a combined academic clinical path at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. As an MRC Clinical Research Training Fellow she recently completed her PhD in the relationship between joint hypermobility, autonomic dysfunction and psychiatric symptoms and is now an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer. She holds honorary clinical contracts with both Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust.

Prof Harrison formerly based at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, now Clinical Professor in Neuroimaging at the Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre. He completed a PhD in Neuroscience at the Welcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging (UCL), and Psychiatry training at the Institute for Psychiatry and National Hospital for Neurology. His research investigates how inflammation in the body acts on the brain to impair mood, motivation and cognition and how it contributes to illnesses like ME/CFS.

Prof Findley was a consultant neurologist and clinical lead at the Essex Neurosciences Unit at Queen’s Hospital. He was also clinical lead for the Clinical Network Coordinating Centre overseeing the NHS Kent & Medway CFS/ME Service.

Prof Findley received his undergraduate medical training at the University of Sheffield, graduating MB, ChB in 1968. Between 1973 and 1981 he undertook postgraduate training in neurology at the Institute of Neurology, London and St Mary’s Hospital Medical School. He was appointed consultant neurologist at the Essex Neurosciences Unit in 1981. He was visiting consultant neurologist to Queen Elizabeth Military Hospital until its closure in 1991 and was appointed Professor of Health Sciences (Neurology) at University of London, South Bank in 1996. Prof Findley was the Clinical Director of a referral centre for patients with complex fatigue syndromes of all types. He has contributed to WHO and national guidelines on the subject of diagnosis and management of fatigue syndromes.