Volunteer Leadership

Mary Sue earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Chemical Engineering at Colorado State University in 1979. Her first professional job was with Dow Chemical as a Research Engineer responsible for designing, constructing and operating pilot plants. After she married her husband, Kent, she worked for Baltimore Gas and Electric at their Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Lusby, Maryland as a Quality Assurance Engineer then as the Plant Chemistry Supervisor. Later she worked as a Facilities Manager at Molecular Biosystems in San Diego, California, where she managed the Maintenance and Metrology Department responsible for operating and maintaining the building, clean rooms, and manufacturing facilities. After a move to Houston, Texas she did consulting work for ExxonMobil and was responsible for procedures and processes for New Projects in Africa and Italy.

Mary Sue’s interest in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome comes from her daughter who has dealt with this illness since she was 14 years old. Even after consultations with many different doctors across the nation, there was no real diagnosis or effective treatments, until being treated by Dr. Bateman. That was the start of slow, but steady improvement in her daughter’s health.

Mary Sue’s goal of being on the Board of Directors is to help advance the Bateman Horne Center of Excellence, so that Dr. Bateman’s wisdom and knowledge of ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia can be shared with more physicians, as well as to promote education and awareness. She hopes through increased awareness that more research dollars will be funded to gain understanding into these very complex, debilitating illnesses.

Ted was an electrical engineer who started his career in the aerospace industry. Later he went from engineering to sales, and then marketing management. In 1980 Ted and his family moved to Utah to start an independent manufacturer's representative firm. He was President and Chairman of the Board of that company until 1999 and is currently retired.

Ted's commitment to Bateman Horne Center is fueled by the ME/CFS diagnosis that one of his children has had for well over a decade. His son was working on his Ph.D. when he became ill with ME/CFS. He was unable to complete his studies and fulfill his lifelong goal of being a college professor.

Ted has had long standing concern with the lack of awareness of the seriousness and frequency of this illness within the medical community, various government entities and the general public. He has also been disappointed with the significant lack of basic research toward determining both a cause and a cure for ME/CFS, which afflicts over one million people in the United States. The minimal private and government research funding doesn't seem appropriate to Ted for an illness that to the CDC estimates costs our economy between $15 billion and $18 billion annually.  He hopes that BHC will continue to raise awareness of this illness at all levels, provide advocacy for those suffering from it, and promote and fund appropriate research efforts toward effective diagnosis and new treatments targeted at causes as well as symptoms.

Most of all, Ted wants BHC to provide hope for those afflicted with this debilitating, currently "incurable" illness.

Angela Linford is a graduate of the University of Utah with a degree in organizational communication. She has worked as a public relations professional for both the Utah Department of Transportation and a Salt Lake City based public relations firm.

Angela grew up in the Salt Lake valley and enjoyed an active lifestyle until suddenly becoming ill with ME/CFS in January 2004 at age 25. She enjoys being able to contribute to BHC’s mission as her health permits.

"When my sister, Shauna Bateman Horne, fell ill, she was unable to get a diagnosis or the treatment she needed. I had just finished my residency, but I was able to diagnose her with ME/CFS. Bateman Horne Center is my way of giving thanks to my sister for helping me understand the tremendous unmet need that exists in this patient community. My commitment to them is to bring excellence in research and care. "

With her sister's experience as a guiding light, Dr. Bateman has become increasingly focused on the management of ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia. After graduating from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and completing a residency at the University of Utah, she started the Fatigue Consultation Clinic, which eventually evolved into Bateman Horne Center. Dr. Bateman has worked with more than 1000 patients with chronic fatigue conditions. Her passion has led her to serve at the national and international level. She was appointed to serve with the International Association of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Series CFS Advisory Committee, where she advised the U.S. Secretary of Health on chronic fatigue issues and participated in a CFS State of the Knowledge conference sponsored by the National Institutes of Health in 2011.

"It is within our grasp to understand the causes of these conditions, to develop tests that demonstrate the presence and severity of illness, and to develop effective treatments," says Dr. Bateman. Using clinical care, research, and education, she continues her fight to bring these conditions to the attention of mainstream medicine and science.

Dave was born at Holy Cross Hospital in Salt Lake City in 1946. He was the last of 4 children. He grew up in the neighborhood just west of the Capital. He attended West High School where he was active in sports and Sports Editor for the school newspaper.

He attended the University of Utah from 1966 to 1970. He graduated with a double major of Journalism and Biology. He was Sports Editor for the Daily Utah Chronicle the student newspaper at the University. He did his post graduate work in Business Administration at Utah State University and Brigham Young University.

Dave pursued a 43 year career in hospital administration retiring in 2009 as the Corp Regional Compliance/Privacy Officer for IASIS Healthcare. He worked at St. Mark’s Hospital, LDS Hospital, Holy Cross Hospital, Salt Lake Regional Medical Center, Jordan Valley Hospital, Davis Hospital and Pioneer Valley Hospital.

Dave has been married to Bonnie Harrington for 43 years. They have 6 children (4 boys and 2 girls) and 8 grandchildren.

Dave was very active in youth activities, coaching Little League Football for 7 years, Junior Jazz Basketball for 6 years and serving in the Boy Scout program for 15 years. He is an avid reader and loves the History Channel and Science Fiction books and movies.

In 2001 when Dave was 55 he was diagnosed with Mono. He struggled for a year with the disease. Finally in the spring of 2002 he went to see Dr. Bateman and was diagnosed with CFS. Dave continued to work as a Corp Officer for IASIS for 8 years. In the fall of 2009 he got pneumonia twice and had back surgery. That ended his career. He was disabled and spent most of 2010 in bed. Finally in 2012 he got a pretty good handle on the disease and was able to be somewhat productive. He became a volunteer Chaplain at Primary Children’s Hospital and serves as a member of the Chaplain Leadership Team.

Before he came down with this disease he was very active. He played full court basketball with his 4 sons and their friends twice a week. He rode his road bike almost daily and did a lot of hiking. That all ended very rapidly. Now he can only walk about a mile a day.

He hopes by serving on the Board of BHC he can increase understanding of this disease and be of service to those who are struggling with it.

Peggy, a California native, is an Assistant Clinical Professor with the University of Utah College of Nursing and a graduate of the Nurse-Midwifery and Women's Health Nurse-Practitioner program.  After many years of direct patient care and clinical teaching, Peggy now works as a faculty practice APRN care manager. Her educational background includes a baccalaureate degree in nursing from the University of Wyoming in 1980, a masters degree and certification as a women’s health nurse practitioner from the University of California, San Francisco in 1986, and a post-masters certificate in nurse-midwifery from the University of Utah in 1997.

Peggy is married and has 3 young adult children, one of whom became suddenly ill with ME/CFS in 2002 at the age of 12. Peggy has tremendous empathy for the suffering and challenges faced by individuals and families affected by ME/CFS. Through professional and personal life experiences, Peggy has been inspired to do what she can to educate others about the realities of ME/CFS, with the ultimate hope of increasing societal support, compassion, and access to quality health care for affected individuals. Peggy was a volunteer in the early years of her daughter’s illness with a focus on increasing awareness of the needs of the ME/CFS pediatric population. She later wrote a feature article published in 2008 by the Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health entitled “Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Implications for Women and Their Health Care Providers During the Childbearing Years” that received a publisher’s award for its contribution to clinical practice.

Now as the parent of a young adult child trying to navigate adulthood with ME/CFS, Peggy is keenly aware that much still needs to be done. She hopes that her involvement with the BHC Board can help create change so desperately needed to improve the lives of those so profoundly affected by this illness.

Professor of Anesthesiology, University of Utah
Licensed Psychologist, University of Utah Pain Management Center

Dr. Okifuji is a professor in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Utah. She has received her bachelor’s degree in Psychology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of Binghamton in New York. She completed her clinical internship and post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh. She was an Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of Washington in Seattle until 2001 when she moved to Utah to join the Pain Research Center of the Department of Anesthesiology, University of Utah.

In the past 20 years, Dr. Okifuji has been active in conducting clinical research in pain medicine, particularly in the area of Fibromyalgia. She is a recipient of multiple grant awards from the National Institute of Health and has published extensively on the topic of interdisciplinary and psycho-social aspects of pain medicine. Her current research interests include the efficacy of the multimodal rehabilitative approaches for Fibromyalgia, the impact of sleep and obesity on pain, and psychological and medical factors contributing to the pain modulatory system.

Dr. Okifuji is a practicing clinical psychologist specialized in pain management. She provides behavioral medicine services at the University of Utah Pain Management Center as a member of the interdisciplinary pain care team.

Veldon was raised on a family farm in Dietrich, Idaho and thus pursued an educational interest in agriculture.  After completing his formal education at Michigan State University (PhD – Weed Science), he has spent 30 years in agricultural research, management and mentoring, retiring in 2012.    

His spouse, Diane, who lives with Fibromyalgia, has inspired Veldon’s interest in service as a BHC Board member.  Veldon’s goal in serving on the BHC Board is to broaden the general understanding of the issues that families and spouses face in light of these conditions.  He also supports research that covers a multi-faceted approach to living and thriving with the conditions of FM and ME/CFS.

Jessica Turner is a native of Salt Lake City, Utah. In high school she dreamed of becoming a Physical Therapist, having a family and living an active lifestyle. After four grueling years of searching for answers related to her debilitating headaches, fatigue and post exertional malaise, she was diagnosed with ME/CFS by Dr. Lucinda Bateman in 2005.

Jessica and her husband (Jay Turner) are both committed to helping BHC fulfill its mission. They have built a successful marriage and family around (and in spite of) the devastating effects of Jessica’s ME/CFS. They have three wonderful children who are their joy in life. Jessica hopes to represent the patient population as a board member and truly improve the lives of people living with the harsh reality we call FM, ME/CFS and sometimes SEID.