Author team: biographies and declarations of interest

Biographies

Hanna Bergman biography

Hanna Bergman is a systematic reviewer with Cochrane Response, an evidence consultancy operated by Cochrane. Hanna was born and raised in Sweden and has an MSc in Biomedicine from Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm. She has been a full-time systematic reviewer since 2011 and has authored 23 published Cochrane reviews with seven different Cochrane groups. She has thorough knowledge of systematic review methodology and is experienced with all tasks and stages of preparing systematic reviews and evidence reports, including protocol development, reference screening and selection, data extraction, risk of bias assessment, meta-analysis, GRADE, interpretation of results, report writing, and coordinating amendments following editorial- and peer-review. Hanna has also worked on several systematic reviews for different WHO guideline groups and on knowledge translation projects helping to make evidence more accessible to the public and to policy makers.

Todd Davenport biography

Todd E. Davenport, PT, DPT, MPH, OCS serves as Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy in the School of Health Sciences at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, USA where he teaches in and serves as Vice Chair of the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program. Dr. Davenport is a graduate of the University of Southern California’s DPT and Orthopaedic Physical Therapy Residency programs. He is a past clinical research fellow at the Warren G. Magnusson Clinical Center at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, where his work included construction and validation of function-based physical capacity tests for patients with chronic fatiguing illnesses. Dr. Davenport is a graduate of the Master of Public Health program at the Berkeley campus of the University of California. He has been continuously board certified since 2005 as a clinical specialist in orthopaedic physical therapy by the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties. Dr. Davenport's clinical and research interests, as a physical therapist, broadly have included the effect of iatrogenic loading on the neuromusculoskeletal system in health and pathology. Dr. Davenport’s scholarly interests include exercise responses in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, as well as epidemiology, program planning, and program evaluation as they relate to noncommunicable diseases. Dr. Davenport is an International Editorial Review Board Member of the Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy, as well as a reviewer for several journals in the fields of rehabilitation and rheumatology. Dr. Davenport is the recipient of several distinguished service, teaching, and research publication awards. In addition to his academic and service work, Dr. Davenport practices at the Kaiser Permanente Stockton (California) Medical Office.

Mary Dimmock biography

Mary Dimmock worked at Pfizer for 31 years in roles that spanned drug metabolism research, clinical data management and clinical database administration, information applications development, and R&D business process improvement and integration. She retired in 2011 when her son became ill with ME/CFS. Since then, she has worked on a number of US and international initiatives to advance research and improve clinical care for people with ME/CFS. Mary has partnered with Dr. Lucinda Bateman of Bateman Horne Center to organize the US ME/CFS Clinician Coalition and its annual summit, now in its third year.

Kay Hallsworth biography

Kay was in the Royal Navy for 28 years; from 1992 to 2002 Kay was a nurse with specialist training in cardiac care. She then took on a less physically demanding role in the Royal Navy as a medical planner. Kay is now Operations Manager with the Association of Royal Navy Officers (ARNO), working from home. Compassionate and inclusive, Kay is a highly experienced specialist with a history of delivering medical operational capabilities in the military industry. Kay has a broad portfolio of skills including operational planning and support; emergency planning and management; healthcare governance and assurance; medical logistics; managing healthcare provision for armed forces personnel and their families based overseas; people management including work in diversity and inclusivity; coaching and mentoring; communication and social media lead for internal employee support networks. Kay has not had direct involvement in the management or guidance of ME/CFS. Kay was an ambassador and volunteer for the Association of Royal Navy Officers and RN Officer’s Charity until February and March, 2021, respectively. She co-owns a company called Explorer Coffees with her husband. Kay also has 2 children under 18, and has had a diagnosis of ME for 24 years.

Nicholas Henschke (lead author) biography

Nicholas is a senior systematic reviewer with Cochrane Response, an evidence consultancy unit operated by Cochrane. Nicholas trained as a physiotherapist before completing his PhD at the University of Sydney, Australia, in 2004. He has held research positions at the EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research in The Netherlands, The George Institute for Global Health in Australia, and the University of Heidelberg in Germany. He has over 10 years’ experience in systematic reviewing and guideline development, participating in multiple clinical guidelines for the World Health Organization in the areas of women and children’s health, vaccines, and infectious diseases.

Julia Newton biography

Julia is a Clinical Academic at Newcastle University, UK. She is currently Professor of Ageing and Medicine, Medical Director at the Academic Health Science Network; North East and North Cumbria and Honorary Consultant Physician at Newcastle Hospitals. Julia has a clinical and research interest in the role the autonomic nervous system and muscle function plays in fatigue.

David Nunan biography

David Nunan, BSc MSc PhD, is Departmental Lecturer and Senior Research Fellow at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford. He has been working in academia since 2000, with a focus on clinical care and evidence-based medicine since 2010. Upon completion of his PhD, he joined the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine and his role is now divided between research, teaching and outreach activities.

Argie-Angeliki Veroniki biography

Dr. Veroniki is a mathematician, holds an MSc in Statistics and Operations Research, and a PhD in Biostatistics and Epidemiology. She is a Research Fellow at the University of Ioannina in Greece, and an Affiliate Scientist at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, Canada. Her research focuses on the statistical modelling for evidence synthesis and the methodology of systematic reviews and (network) meta-analysis. She is a co-Convenor of the Cochrane Statistical Methods Group, acts as a Senior Editor for the Systematic Reviews and an Associate Editor for the Pilot and Feasibility Studies journal.

Declarations of interest

Hanna Bergman declaration of interest

Consultancy fees, Cochrane Response; personal payments; I will be paid for writing this review by Cochrane Response.

Todd Davenport declaration of interest

Conference support from educational courses related to physical therapy management of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome. Workwell Foundation. Personal payment.

Course proceeds from educational courses related to physical therapy management of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome. Workwell Foundation Medbridge, Inc. Personal payment.

Non-financial: Davenport TE, Stevens SR, Van Ness JM, Stevens J, Snell CR (2019). Checking our blind spots: current status of research evidence summaries in ME/CFS. British Journal of Sports Medicine; 53(19):1198. University of the Pacific Workwell Foundation.

Non-financial: Snell CR, Stevens SR, Davenport TE, Van Ness JM (2011). Using cardiopulmonary exercise testing to evaluate fatigue and post-exertional malaise in ME/CFS. Journal of IiME; 5(1): 10-12. University of the Pacific Workwell Foundation.

Non-financial: Physical Therapy Clinical Specialist. Kaiser Permanente, Stockton, California, USA.

Non-financial: Scientific Advisor. Workwell Foundation. Unpaid position.

Mary Dimmock declaration of interest

Non-financial: Released an article through social media in January 2018 summarizing challenges with systematic treatment reviews in ME/CFS. Article authored by myself. Document is available here.

Non-financial: Twitter and a forum called Science for ME. Personal accounts.

Non-financial: Authored a 2015 paper that examined various issues with the research and clinical care for ME/CFS. Focused especially on the US but also discussed GET and the associated disease theory.

Non-financial: Since 2017, I have provided funding and hands-on support to the US ME/CFS Clinician Coalition. US ME/CFS Clinician Coalition. The Coalition has taken a position rejecting GET.

Non-financial: I was a key informant on the protocol and a peer reviewer for a current systematic review of ME/CFS treatments. Pacific Northwest Evidence-based Practice Center at Oregon Health Sciences University - was contracted by CDC.

Non-financial: I led an effort requesting to reanalyse their 2014 evidence review conclusions. Oregon group - was contracted by US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Kay Hallsworth declaration of interest

Non-financial: Civil Service Blog post in 2018.

Non-financial: Previous role as Nurse and Medical Services Officer in Royal Navy (28 years) - no direct link to topic. Royal Navy.

Nicholas Henschke (lead author) declaration of interest

Since 2016 I have been employed by Cochrane Response, an evidence consultancy initiative from Cochrane. As such, my role in this review is paid for by Cochrane. Cochrane Response. Institutional payment.

Julia Newton declaration of interest

Non-financial: I deliver a clinical service that relates to fatigue at Newcastle Hospitals Trust. Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust.
Non-financial: I am a medical advisor for Action for ME and for ME Research UK. Action for ME, ME Research UK.

David Nunan declaration of interest

Non-financial: Numerous academic publications (opinion pieces, research articles), conference proceedings/presentations, and grant funding on the topic of physical activity and exercise. Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford. I am an active researcher in the field of physical activity and exercise for health.

Argie-Angeliki Veroniki declaration of interest

None.