Oct 2024: Dr David Tuller's 6 free Irish talks in Bray/Cork/Dublin/Galway/Limerick/Sligo followed by free tea/coffee & biscuits
Dr
David Tuller to give free talks and question-and-answer sessions in
Dublin (October 20), Bray (October 21), Cork (October 23), Limerick
(October 25), Galway (October 26) & Sligo (October 28). Each event
is followed by an opportunity to chat with others over free
tea/coffee/herbal tea/water & biscuits.
Title: “Bad Science, Bad Medicine: How flawed biopsychosocial studies on ME, long Covid, and related conditions harm patients"
We, in the Irish ME/CFS Association, are pleased to announce that Dr David Tuller has agreed to give 6 talks in Ireland in October 2024.
Outline of what he will talk about that he sent us:
------------------------------------------------------
“A review of many studies of ME/CFS, Long Covid, irritable bowel syndrome, functional neurological disorder and other conditions categorized as "medically unexplained symptoms" makes clear that this body of research is fraught with a range of methodological flaws. These flaws often render the reported results hard to take seriously. In this talk, I will discuss some examples of these flawed studies and how they can lead to inappropriate and/or potentially harmful treatments.”
Here is a short biography of him:
-----------------------------------
David Tuller, DrPH, is a senior fellow in public health and journalism at UC Berkeley’s Center for Global Public Health, which is part of the School of Public Health. He received a masters degree in public health in 2006 and a doctor of public health degree in 2013, both from Berkeley. He was a reporter and editor for ten years at The San Francisco Chronicle and has written regularly about public health and medical issues for The New York Times, the policy journal Health Affairs, and many other publications. Since 2015, he has been investigating scientific, methodological and ethical problems with research on the illness, or cluster of illnesses, variously known as myalgic encephalomyelitis, chronic fatigue syndrome, ME/CFS or CFS/ME. His ongoing series on this issue, Trial By Error, can be found on Virology Blog, the science site hosted by Vincent Racaniello, a microbiology professor at Columbia University.
We have decided to make it admission free for this series of events.
We do not take pre-bookings (we could envisage a situation where dozens of seats were pre-booked but empty and we had to turn people away on the night; it would also be extra work for our volunteer team to take pre-bookings). We expect that the large rooms that we have booked will be well able to accommodate the numbers we expect turning up based on past experience.
The talks will take place in the following venues:
- Dublin Sunday, October 20 2:30 PM Radisson Blu Hotel, Dublin Airport K67 H5H9 https://www.radissonhotels.com/en-us/hotels/radisson-blu-dublin-airport
Car parking: Onsite car parking is available at the hotel with over 305 spaces to offer your delegates. Parking costs are available at €6.00 per car per day and €10.00 overnight.
Location info:
https://www.radissonhotels.com/en-us/hotels/radisson-blu-dublin-airport/contact
Airport shuttle:
“Hop on our 24-hour shuttle service to arrive at our hotel in just a few minutes. Terminal 1 bus stop is located in Zone 8 of the airport coach park. Terminal 2 bus stop is located outside Terminal 2 building, outside the Departures Hall.” (useful as there are a lot of transport links to the airport).
This talk is being hosted by Vera Kindlon, the Association’s chairperson. There is a good chance that Association Assistant chairperson, Tom Kindlon, will also be there.
- Bray, Co Wicklow: Monday, October 21 7 PM Villa Pacis. This is the same venue that has been used in recent years by the Bray group so it’s possible some people are already familiar with it. Villa Pacis is the community hall in the grounds of Our Lady Queen of Peace Church, Vevay Road, Bray, A98VP93. There is usually plenty of free parking available on site and the venue can be accessed via either of the Vevay road or Puntland road entrances. It is a wheelchair accessible venue. The host is Audrey Lodge who runs the Bray adult ME/CFS support group. This is the first time we are working with Audrey on one of our speaker meetings. It will be an interesting experiment to see the attendances at the meetings at a Dublin airport hotel and also in Bray, which is a commuter town, just south of Dublin county.
- Cork Wednesday October 23, 2024 - 7:30 PM The Kingsley Hotel, Victoria Cross, Cork, T12 P680. https://www.thekingsley.ie Lots of free car parking
Location: https://www.thekingsley.ie/location/
This talk is being hosted by Michelle Dinn, coordinator of the Cork ME/CFS Support Group, and Ashling O’Leary.
- Limerick: Friday October 25, 2024 - 2 PM Great National South Court Hotel, Raheen Gardens, Raheen, Limerick, V94 E77X
https://www.southcourthotel.com/
Free parking available for up to 400 vehicles
Location: https://www.southcourthotel.com/location/
This talk is being hosted by Sarah Warde, co-ordinator of the Limerick ME Self-Help Group.
- Galway: Saturday October 26 - 2:30 PM: Connacht Hotel, Old Dublin Road, Galway. Eircode: H91 K5DD. (091) 381 200. The meeting room is ground floor. This hotel is between the Bon Secour private Hospital (Renmore) and the Eye Cinema . The website for the hotel, if you want to see what it looks like, is <https://www.theconnacht.ie/>; Free parking (both over and underground). Location: <https://www.theconnacht.ie/en/our-hotel-in-galway/>; This is being hosted by Orla Ní Chomhraí, secretary of the Irish ME/CFS Association and coordinator of the Galway ME/CFS Support Group.
- Sligo: Monday October 28: 6PM Glasshouse Hotel, The Glasshouse, Swan Point, Sligo, F91 NCA4 https://www.theglasshouse.ie . Telephone: (071) 919 4300. According to the website there is "ample car parking for delegates". Location: https://www.theglasshouse.ie/location.html GPS Co-ordinates +54° 16' 21.69" -8° 28' 30.42" This is being hosted by Ruth Flood.
Mask wearing is encouraged for the Dr Tuller part of the event. After that, when the tea/coffee/herbal tea/water and biscuits are served, many if not most people probably won’t be wearing masks (so some people may choose to leave before that).
No Scent Makes Good Sense
--------------------------------
(Copied from another ME group’s newsletter) Participants with allergies and sensitivities thank you for not wearing ANY scented personal care products such as aftershave, cologne, perfume, hand cream or hairspray.
Some background information from Tom Kindlon:
------------------------------------------------------
David Tuller is a well-known figure in the ME/CFS community worldwide. He wrote a series of articles on the £5 million PACE Trial on graded exercise therapy and cognitive behaviour therapy which featured me in 2015. He then started writing regularly on the topic. Eventually he became a central part of the ME/CFS community internationally. However, he needed money to stay in the field so after a few years he started crowdfunding for his work. In recent years he has been raising approximately $130,000 each year from the ME/CFS community worldwide to support his work. Patients and family members donate because they have been so impressed by his output and the knowledge he has built up.
After seeing the Dr Speight talks that we had arranged this year, he contacted me to see whether we might be interested in having him come over to speak. He mentioned that he may be retiring next year. He very generously offered not to take any speaker fee as he feels his work is supported by the crowdfunding mentioned above. He is also not going to claim expenses getting to or from Ireland. This seemed like a great offer. I discussed it with the local hosts to see whether they would be interested in hosting a talk by him and they all were interested. I recognise this is different from our usual speakers who are medical doctors but hopefully people will take up the opportunity to hear him.
Anybody available to help at the door?
-----------------------------------------
We would be very grateful for some volunteers as the meetings will hopefully be well-attended. Work that needs to be done includes: getting people to sign-in (important when trying to get new members and tell people about future events) and putting information sheets and membership forms on seats. We may also need help with the tea/coffee/herbal tea and biscuits but hopefully people will be able to help themselves with that. We’d prefer that if you could help, you’d try to be there early (20 minutes before the start anyway).
Title: “Bad Science, Bad Medicine: How flawed biopsychosocial studies on ME, long Covid, and related conditions harm patients"
We, in the Irish ME/CFS Association, are pleased to announce that Dr David Tuller has agreed to give 6 talks in Ireland in October 2024.
Outline of what he will talk about that he sent us:
------------------------------------------------------
“A review of many studies of ME/CFS, Long Covid, irritable bowel syndrome, functional neurological disorder and other conditions categorized as "medically unexplained symptoms" makes clear that this body of research is fraught with a range of methodological flaws. These flaws often render the reported results hard to take seriously. In this talk, I will discuss some examples of these flawed studies and how they can lead to inappropriate and/or potentially harmful treatments.”
Here is a short biography of him:
-----------------------------------
David Tuller, DrPH, is a senior fellow in public health and journalism at UC Berkeley’s Center for Global Public Health, which is part of the School of Public Health. He received a masters degree in public health in 2006 and a doctor of public health degree in 2013, both from Berkeley. He was a reporter and editor for ten years at The San Francisco Chronicle and has written regularly about public health and medical issues for The New York Times, the policy journal Health Affairs, and many other publications. Since 2015, he has been investigating scientific, methodological and ethical problems with research on the illness, or cluster of illnesses, variously known as myalgic encephalomyelitis, chronic fatigue syndrome, ME/CFS or CFS/ME. His ongoing series on this issue, Trial By Error, can be found on Virology Blog, the science site hosted by Vincent Racaniello, a microbiology professor at Columbia University.
We have decided to make it admission free for this series of events.
We do not take pre-bookings (we could envisage a situation where dozens of seats were pre-booked but empty and we had to turn people away on the night; it would also be extra work for our volunteer team to take pre-bookings). We expect that the large rooms that we have booked will be well able to accommodate the numbers we expect turning up based on past experience.
The talks will take place in the following venues:
- Dublin Sunday, October 20 2:30 PM Radisson Blu Hotel, Dublin Airport K67 H5H9 https://www.radissonhotels.com/en-us/hotels/radisson-blu-dublin-airport
Car parking: Onsite car parking is available at the hotel with over 305 spaces to offer your delegates. Parking costs are available at €6.00 per car per day and €10.00 overnight.
Location info:
https://www.radissonhotels.com/en-us/hotels/radisson-blu-dublin-airport/contact
Airport shuttle:
“Hop on our 24-hour shuttle service to arrive at our hotel in just a few minutes. Terminal 1 bus stop is located in Zone 8 of the airport coach park. Terminal 2 bus stop is located outside Terminal 2 building, outside the Departures Hall.” (useful as there are a lot of transport links to the airport).
This talk is being hosted by Vera Kindlon, the Association’s chairperson. There is a good chance that Association Assistant chairperson, Tom Kindlon, will also be there.
- Bray, Co Wicklow: Monday, October 21 7 PM Villa Pacis. This is the same venue that has been used in recent years by the Bray group so it’s possible some people are already familiar with it. Villa Pacis is the community hall in the grounds of Our Lady Queen of Peace Church, Vevay Road, Bray, A98VP93. There is usually plenty of free parking available on site and the venue can be accessed via either of the Vevay road or Puntland road entrances. It is a wheelchair accessible venue. The host is Audrey Lodge who runs the Bray adult ME/CFS support group. This is the first time we are working with Audrey on one of our speaker meetings. It will be an interesting experiment to see the attendances at the meetings at a Dublin airport hotel and also in Bray, which is a commuter town, just south of Dublin county.
- Cork Wednesday October 23, 2024 - 7:30 PM The Kingsley Hotel, Victoria Cross, Cork, T12 P680. https://www.thekingsley.ie Lots of free car parking
Location: https://www.thekingsley.ie/location/
This talk is being hosted by Michelle Dinn, coordinator of the Cork ME/CFS Support Group, and Ashling O’Leary.
- Limerick: Friday October 25, 2024 - 2 PM Great National South Court Hotel, Raheen Gardens, Raheen, Limerick, V94 E77X
https://www.southcourthotel.com/
Free parking available for up to 400 vehicles
Location: https://www.southcourthotel.com/location/
This talk is being hosted by Sarah Warde, co-ordinator of the Limerick ME Self-Help Group.
- Galway: Saturday October 26 - 2:30 PM: Connacht Hotel, Old Dublin Road, Galway. Eircode: H91 K5DD. (091) 381 200. The meeting room is ground floor. This hotel is between the Bon Secour private Hospital (Renmore) and the Eye Cinema . The website for the hotel, if you want to see what it looks like, is <https://www.theconnacht.ie/>; Free parking (both over and underground). Location: <https://www.theconnacht.ie/en/our-hotel-in-galway/>; This is being hosted by Orla Ní Chomhraí, secretary of the Irish ME/CFS Association and coordinator of the Galway ME/CFS Support Group.
- Sligo: Monday October 28: 6PM Glasshouse Hotel, The Glasshouse, Swan Point, Sligo, F91 NCA4 https://www.theglasshouse.ie . Telephone: (071) 919 4300. According to the website there is "ample car parking for delegates". Location: https://www.theglasshouse.ie/location.html GPS Co-ordinates +54° 16' 21.69" -8° 28' 30.42" This is being hosted by Ruth Flood.
Mask wearing is encouraged for the Dr Tuller part of the event. After that, when the tea/coffee/herbal tea/water and biscuits are served, many if not most people probably won’t be wearing masks (so some people may choose to leave before that).
No Scent Makes Good Sense
--------------------------------
(Copied from another ME group’s newsletter) Participants with allergies and sensitivities thank you for not wearing ANY scented personal care products such as aftershave, cologne, perfume, hand cream or hairspray.
Some background information from Tom Kindlon:
------------------------------------------------------
David Tuller is a well-known figure in the ME/CFS community worldwide. He wrote a series of articles on the £5 million PACE Trial on graded exercise therapy and cognitive behaviour therapy which featured me in 2015. He then started writing regularly on the topic. Eventually he became a central part of the ME/CFS community internationally. However, he needed money to stay in the field so after a few years he started crowdfunding for his work. In recent years he has been raising approximately $130,000 each year from the ME/CFS community worldwide to support his work. Patients and family members donate because they have been so impressed by his output and the knowledge he has built up.
After seeing the Dr Speight talks that we had arranged this year, he contacted me to see whether we might be interested in having him come over to speak. He mentioned that he may be retiring next year. He very generously offered not to take any speaker fee as he feels his work is supported by the crowdfunding mentioned above. He is also not going to claim expenses getting to or from Ireland. This seemed like a great offer. I discussed it with the local hosts to see whether they would be interested in hosting a talk by him and they all were interested. I recognise this is different from our usual speakers who are medical doctors but hopefully people will take up the opportunity to hear him.
Anybody available to help at the door?
-----------------------------------------
We would be very grateful for some volunteers as the meetings will hopefully be well-attended. Work that needs to be done includes: getting people to sign-in (important when trying to get new members and tell people about future events) and putting information sheets and membership forms on seats. We may also need help with the tea/coffee/herbal tea and biscuits but hopefully people will be able to help themselves with that. We’d prefer that if you could help, you’d try to be there early (20 minutes before the start anyway).