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Nancy Klimas, M.D.

Director, Institute for Neuro-Immune Medicine, Nova Southeastern University

Director, Clinical Immunology Research, Miami VAMC

Professor of Medicine, Department of Clinical Immunology, College of Osteopathic Medicine, N ova Southeastern University

Chair, Department of Clinical Immunology, College of Osteopathic Medicine, Nova Southeastern University

Professor Emerita, University of Miami, School of Medicine

Dr. Nancy Klimas has 40 years of professional experience and has achieved international recognition for her research and clinical efforts in multi-symptom disorders, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), Gulf War illness (GWI), fibromyalgia, and most recently Long COVID.

She is the Director of the Institute for Neuro-Immune Medicine, Assistant Dean of Research and Professor of Clinical Immunology at the Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine. She chairs the Department of Clinical Immunology at Nova Southeastern University. Dr. Klimas is Professor Emerita, at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine where she practiced for 30 years,  a diplomat of the American Board of Internal Medicine, a diplomat in Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, and Director of Environmental Medicine Research at the Miami Veterans Affairs Medical Center Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (GRECC). 

She has achieved national and international recognition for her research and clinical efforts in multi-symptom disorders, including ME/CFS and GWI. She is a past president of the International Association for ME/CFS and a past member of the Health and Human Services CFS Advisory Committee., the VA GWI Research Advisory Committee, the National Academy of Medicine’s ME/CFS clinical case definition working group, and has served on several NIH advisory panels.

She founded the NSU Institute for Neuro Immune Medicine, where she directs a group of eighteen remarkable interdisciplinary scientists and clinicians who are working together from bedside to bench and back to bedside, working to discover and implement innovative strategies that effectively treat or prevent these disabling chronic illnesses, while training the next generation of clinicians and scientists.


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  • NIH R21: Male-specific genomic mechanisms of transcriptional regulation of ME/CFS/SEID
     In an effort to provide insight into the key biological targets involved in sex-specific ME/CFS/SEID presentation, the main objective of this research proposal is to identify male-specific biomarkers and therapeutic targets of
    ME/CFS/SEID and provide insight into sex-specific disease onset and progression, which will lead to the better therapeutic intervention
  • VA MERIT: Women vs. Men with GWI: Differences in Computational Models and Therapeutic Target
     We hypothesize that GWI affects regulatory function differently in women than in men, with implications on therapeutic management. The objective of this study is to improve our understanding of GWI pathogenesis in women by: (i) integrating data across several of the body’s regulatory systems, and (ii) mapping of dysfunctional signaling networks in GWI in each sex.
  • NIH R01: Gender Differences in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
     The proposed study will correct a gender imbalance in ME/CFS research. It may lead to phase 1 trials of targeted therapies designed to restore a normal balance of autonomic, immune and endocrine systems and thus, health in men and women.
  • DoD CDMRR/GWIC: Brain-Immune Interactions as the Basis of Gulf War Illness: Gulf War Illness Consortium (GWIC)
     My role in the consortium is to provide core immune and genomic lab support to the investigators, and to evaluate the usefulness of biomarkers of inflammation in GWI.
  • DoD CDMRP/GWIRC: Understanding Gulf War Illness: An Integrative Modeling Approach
     Integrate two animal models of GWI with human clinical data to pinpoint the underlying mechanisms of disease and target treatment more effectively to re-establish normal well-coordinated signaling interactions. Specifically, our more detailed understanding of the dysfunction associated with key metabolic pathways involved in GWI would greatly expedite the identification of promising biomarkers for improved diagnosis over the short-term as well as selection and testing of more targeted therapeutic interventions over the longer term that will address the underlying mechanisms of disease.
  • VA MERIT: A Translational Medicine Approach to Gulf War Illness: From Cells to Therapy
     The objectives of the proposed study are to determine if intervening at these therapeutic targets selected via computational modeling will act as predicted and normalize immune and neuroendocrine function in an in vitro system. The study will have 2 phases: an exploration/ screening phase and a validation phase. The screening phase will be conducted on 17 repurposed drugs. These will be assessed in vitro using whole blood cultures from 40 GWI patients and 40 matched controls. The most promising 5 drugs will be validated in PBMCs from a new cohort of 40 GWI patients and 40 matched controls.
  • CDC: Clinical Assessment of Patients with CFS and Biorepository Development
     Goal of project is to enable CFS researchers to provide a standardized approach to definition use in clinical diagnosis and management of CFS and improve standardization, integration, and sharing of CFS data to benefit research. Role is to oversee the clinical components of this work at our site, including the training and supervision of the clinical staff, and to assist the interdisciplinary team in the clinical utility of the findings.

  • NIH R15: Genomic approach to find novel biomarkers and mechanisms of CFS/ME
     The employment of advanced genomic technologies and a well-rounded research approach will allow us to identify regulators of transcription that result in characteristic symptomatology associated with CFS/ME in female patients.

  •  DoD GWIRP/ IIREA:Testing the Model: A Phase I/II Randomized Double Blind Placebo Control Trial of Therapeutics: Liposomal Glutathione and Curcumin
      The goal is to implement a phase I/II placebo control double blinded 3 arm study of liposomal glutathione, curcumin and placebo in GWI in 75 veterans with GWI (25 per arm) and assess the safety, feasibility and clinical response to the interventions;. Integrate repeat assessment and modeling of dynamic response to exercise challenge in order to map homeostatic pathways before and after 12 weeks of intervention. Finally, assess antioxidant and methylation-related metabolic status prior to, during, and after acute exercise in GWI subjects before and after these antioxidant interventions.

2022

2021

  • Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Essentials of Diagnosis and Management
    • Bateman L, Bested AC, Bonilla HF, Chheda BV, Chu L, Curtin JM, Dempsey TT, Dimmock ME, Dowell TG, Felsenstein D, Kaufman DL, Klimas NG, Komaroff AL, Lapp CW, Levine SM, Montoya JG, Natelson BH, Peterson DL, Podell RN, Rey IR, Ruhoy IS, Vera-Nunez MA, Yellman BP. Mayo Clin Proc. 2021 Aug 23:S0025-6196(21)00513-9. doi: 10.1016/j.mayocp.2021.07.004. PMID: 34454716.
  • A common language for Gulf War Illness (GWI) research studies: GWI common data elements
    • Cohen DE, Sullivan KA, McNeil RB, Klimas NG; Gulf War Illness Common Data Elements Working Group; Symptoms Assessment Working Group, McNeil R, Ashford W, Bested A, Bunker J, Cheema A, Cohen D, Cook D, Cournoyer J, Craddock T, Golier J, Hardie A, Helmer D, Lindheimer JB, Lloyd PJ, Kerr K, Krengel M, Nadkarni S, Nugent S, Paris B, Reinhard M, Rumm P, Schneiderman A, Sims KJ, Steele L, Turner M; Systems Assessment Working Group, Sullivan K, Abdullah L, Abreu M, Abu-Donia M, Aenlle K, Arocho J, Balbin E, Baraniuk J, Block K, Block M, DeBeer B, Engdahl B, Filipov N, Fletcher MA, Kalasinsky V, Kokkotou E, Lidie K, Little D, Loging W, Morris M, Nathanson L, Nichols MD, Pasinetti G, Shungu D, Waziry P, VanLeeuwen J, Younger J; GWI CDE Administrative Team, Klimas N. Life Sci. 2021 Aug 2:119818. doi: 10.1016/j.lfs.2021.119818. PMID: 34352259.

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

 

2014

 

2013

 

2012

  • Minimum Data Elements for Research Reports on CFS
    • Jason, L.A., Unger, E.R., Dimitrakoff, J.D., Fagin, A.P., Houghton, M., Cook, D.B., Marshall, G.D. Jr., Klimas, N., Snell, C. Brain Behav Immun. 2012 Mar;26(3):401-6. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2012.01.014.

2011

  • Myalgic Encephalomyelitis: International Consensus Criteria
    • Carruthers BM, van de Sande MI, De Meirleir KL, Klimas NG, Broderick G, Mitchell T, Staines D, Powles AC, Speight N, Vallings R, Bateman L, Baumgarten-Austrheim B, Bell DS, Carlo-Stella N, Chia J, Darragh A, Jo D, Lewis D, Light AR, Marshall-Gradisnik S, Mena I, Mikovits JA, Miwa K, Murovska M, Pall ML, Stevens S. J Intern Med. 2011 Oct;270(4):327-38. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2796.2011.02428.x.

2010

2009

2008

  • Overview of HIV
    • Klimas, N., Koneru, A.O., Fletcher, M.A. Psychosom Med. 2008 Jun;70(5):523-30. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0b013e31817ae69f.

2007

2006

 

2005

  • Gulf War Veterans' Health: Medical Evaluation of a U.S. Cohort
    • Eisen, S.A., Kang, H.K., Murphy, F.M., Blanchard, M.S., Reda, D.J., Henderson, W.G., Toomey, R., Jackson, L.W., Alpern, R., Parks, B.J., Klimas, N., Hall, C., Pak, H.S., Hunter, J., Karlinsky, J., Battistone, M.J., Lyons, M.J. Ann Intern Med. 2005 Jun 7;142(11):881-90.
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