Medical Director, Provider

Lucinda Bateman, MD is the founder and medical director of BHC and is recognized worldwide as an expert in the diagnosis and treatment of ME/CFS. She completed BS and MS degrees at Brigham Young University (BYU) and a Doctor of Medicine (MD) at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Bateman completed an internal medicine residency at the University of Utah and became certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in 1991. Since 2000, she has focused on the diagnosis, management, and treatment of ME/CFS, FM, and related comorbidities.

Education and Training

Personal Statement

After a decade of practicing general internal medicine (1989-1999), I was intimately aware of the need for advances in diagnosis and treatment guidelines for the generally misunderstood pain and fatigue illness spectrum including fibromyalgia (FM) and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). In 2000, I changed my general clinical practice to a full-time Fatigue Consultation Clinic to learn more about diagnosis and management of such illnesses. Since then I have devoted my medical career exclusively to the diagnosis, management, research and education regarding FM and ME/CFS.  In 2002, I hired an experienced nurse to develop a clinical research program enabling us to contribute to FM and ME/CFS. We soon discovered that recruitment of subjects is one of the most challenging aspects of clinical research, and having a unique clinic devoted to these illnesses provided a great resource for well-defined research subjects.  Our patients regularly attend clinic visits and participate enthusiastically in research.   In the past few years I have served as principle investigator, clinical collaborator or medical advisor for more than 30 clinical trials directly related to FM or ME/CFS, including collaborations with NIH-funded basic and clinical researchers from the University of Utah, Columbia University, Nova Southeastern University, Harvard and Stanford, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Positions and Honors

Contributions to Science

• Pharmaceutical trials for FM. When 3 novel drugs for FM were in phase III clinical trials (2004-2013), we became one of the highest enrolling clinics in the country for Phase III clinical trials for both the FM adult and then the FM pediatric studies.  This was directly related to our large, willing, well defined clinical population under expert supervision.  These studies led to the first FDA approved drugs for an illness that had previously been marginalized and stereotyped. While pharmaceutical trials are not always respected at the same level, these FDA drug approvals created a major change in awareness, frequency of diagnosis and steps toward better treatment.  My primary role was as principal investigator implementing the protocols at BHC, not as a consultant to the pharmaceutical companies, but I also volunteered my time toward the following publications relevant to these studies.

• Clinical diagnosis and management of FM. As member of the FibroCollaborative in 2010 I joined a select group of expert scientists and clinicians to develop diagnosis and treatment guidance for FM. While not a lead author, I was a strong voice for the primary care clinical perspective in the collaborative process.

• Clinical diagnosis and management of ME/CFS.  Broader awareness of FM came first, powered by drug development and FDA approval of 3 drugs for treating FM pain from 2006-2009.  ME/CFS awareness has moved more slowly, because the illness has no “medical home” and has not been embraced by academia.  The following are publications that reflect my active participation in projects developed to improve clinical diagnosis and management of ME/CFS.

• Participation in Multi-Site Clinical Trials of ME/CFS. Small cohorts and inconsistent application of case definitions has plagued the science of ME/CFS for decades.  Because of this, larger well-defined clinical populations are urgently needed.  My most important multi-site clinical collaborations have been the Chronic Fatigue Initiative, the CDC Multi-Site study, and the NIH funded Collaborative Research Centers.  Several publications, informed by clinical experts, are now available, with more to come.  Data from the early multi-site studies also informed the IOM committee charged with developing new evidence-based clinical diagnostic criteria for ME/CFS in 2014-2015.

• Objective measurement of Post-Exertional Malaise (PEM) in ME/CFS. While attending the Pain Research Center didactic at the University of Utah, I encountered bench and clinical investigators clearly knowledgeable about the emerging science of central pain amplification and fibromyalgia.  It was through these associations that I began collaborations with Drs. Alan and Kathleen Light to investigate the exercise intolerance and post-exertional malaise that distinguishes ME/CFS from fibromyalgia.  With the combination of my clinical experience and their skilled scientific inquiry and experience, we were able to demonstrate, objectively, the physiological consequences of exercise in patients with ME/CFS.  I have also acted as clinical advisor to Snell et al. in studies using cardiopulmonary exercise testing to demonstrate PEM.

For more details on Bateman’s contributions to science, authored CMEs, and publications click here.