KPCOM Faculty Members Provides Milestone Lecture

Alison C. Bested, M.D., FRCPC, director of student research development and chair of integrative medicine at the Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine, piloted a milestone achievement on August 19 when she presented the inaugural lecture on myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) to osteopathic medical students. According to Bested, only 15 percent of patients are diagnosed and treated for ME/CFS, mainly because ME/CFS is a newly recognized disease that isn’t taught in most medical school curricula.

“Providing lectures to medical students will spread information about ME/CFS in the medical community. It will give patients a better opportunity to receive the correct ME/CFS diagnosis, begin treatment sooner, and have better long-term outcomes using the clinical diagnostic criteria for ME/CFS,” Bested said. “It will also support diagnosed patients in the community by empowering knowledgeable physicians to provide supportive symptomatic care to severely ill and bedridden ME/CFS patients.