Singer & Songwriter
Stuart is the lead singer and songwriter for the band, and he is also a composer, writer, filmmaker, and father. Some of his songs and his films reflect the struggles he has faced with ME / CFS when he became too ill to work or study for seven years.
These songs and his films appeal to a broad audience, as Stuart explains in this video, and demonstrate the compassion and hope he has for the millions of patients desperately wanting a cure so they can once again, begin their lives.
UPDATE: OMF Ambassador Stuart Murdoch appears on CNN Turning Points.
As an OMF Ambassador, Stuart is working with us, in our social media and fundraising campaigns, to promote awareness of this dreadful disease and OMF’s efforts to end it. Stuart and his band, Belle and Sebastian, add global social awareness to OMF’s efforts as the band, based in Glasgow, Scotland, where they were founded 20 years ago, has achieved worldwide fame through its tours and multiple recordings.
Stuart is the lead singer and songwriter for the band, and he is also a composer, writer, filmmaker, and father. Some of his songs and his films reflect the struggles he has faced with ME / CFS when he became too ill to work or study for seven years.
UPDATE: OMF Ambassador Stuart Murdoch appears on CNN Turning Points.
Stuart’s songs and his films appeal to a broad audience, as Stuart explains in this video, and demonstrate the compassion and hope he has for the millions of patients desperately wanting a cure so they can once again, begin their lives.
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Averting a second pandemic:
Open Medicine Foundation leads groundbreaking international study of
Long COVID’s conversion to ME/CFS
AGOURA HILLS, CALIF. — Open Medicine Foundation (OMF) is leading a large-scale international collaborative study investigating the potential conversion of Post-Acute Sequelae SARS-CoV-2 infection — more commonly known as Long COVID or Post-COVID Syndrome — to Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), a chronic, life-altering disease with no known cause, diagnostic test or FDA approved treatments available.
Up to 2.5 million people in the U.S. alone suffer from ME/CFS; the COVID-19 pandemic could at least double that number. An estimated 35 percent of Americans who had COVID-19 have failed to fully recover several months after infection, prompting many to call it “a potential second pandemic.”
OMF recognized a familiar health crisis emerging, one with eerie similarities to ME/CFS. This crisis presented a unique opportunity to understand how a viral infection — in this case COVID-19 — may develop into ME/CFS in some patients. The goal is to find targeted treatments for ME/CFS patients and ultimately prevent its onset in people infected with SARS-CoV-2 or other infections.
The federal government is only now investing in Post-COVID research, with no focus on its connection to ME/CFS. OMF has already engaged researchers for the largest-scale study of its kind, solely supported by private donors who have contributed over one million dollars to date. When fully funded, the five million dollar, three-year study will be conducted across the globe at OMF funded Collaborative Research Centers, led by some of the world’s top researchers and ME/CFS experts.
BACKGROUND
In a significant percentage of patients, infections preceded their development of ME/CFS. For example, according to the CDC about one in ten infected with Epstein-Barr virus, Ross River virus, or Coxiella burnetti develop symptoms that meet the criteria for ME/CFS.
THE STUDY
The ability to follow the development of ME/CFS from a known viral infection is unprecedented to date and crucial to researchers’ understanding of the disease. The focus of this study is to find the biological differences between persons returning to good health after COVID-19 and persons who remained ill more than six months after infection and developed ME/CFS. Understanding these alterations in key pathways can lead to groundbreaking discoveries including new biomarkers, drug targets, and prevention and treatment strategies.
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About Open Medicine Foundation
Established in 2012, Open Medicine Foundation leads the largest, concerted worldwide nonprofit effort to diagnose, treat, and prevent ME/CFS and related chronic, complex diseases such as Post Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and Post COVID. OMF adds urgency to the search for answers by driving transformational philanthropy into global research. We have raised over $28 Million from private donors and facilitated and funded the establishment of five prestigious ME/CFS Collaborative Research Centers around the world. To learn more, visit www.omf.ngo.
CONTACT:
Heather Ah San
Development and Communications Manager
1-650-242-8669