Most doctors, nurses and other healthcare providers belong to a medical association in order to connect to a community of their peers. These medical associations typically send out regular magazines, newsletters and emails about the latest news and topics of interest to the medical field.

A great way to begin to educate an entire community of medical providers is to write a basic article about Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, and to reach out to a medical association about publishing it.

In New York, activists were successful in getting articles published in “Family Doctor: A Journal for the NYSAFP” and in the “Monroe County Medical Society.” The article was very basic, titled: “Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: What Every Family Physician Needs to Know.”

In Chicago, an activist built a relationship with a journalist following a #MillionsMissing demonstration and was successful in getting an article about ME published in the journal for the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Tips for the article:

Keep it basic. Most medical providers know very little about ME so a basic article about the disease is helpful.

Focus on a clinical case for your article – an approach appreciated by medical providers.

If you’re not comfortable writing, consider interviewing an ME specialist or researcher for the article.

The Pitch

The NY activists focused on the current momentum around ME for their pitch to editors at the medical associations. They wanted to give the editors the impression that this is an exciting time for ME, and that their association won’t want to miss out on educating its members about this disease. In other words, everyone’s talking about ME – don’t get left behind! See an example of their email pitch here.

Other ways to give medical associations the impression that ME is a “hot” topic is to mention latest items in the news about ME, including (in the US):

Director of the NIH, Francis Collins, said that ME/CFS is a priority for the agency in an article in MedPage in Jan. 2018.

The CDC recently updated its guidelines to get rid of the recommendation that people with ME undergo graded exercise therapy.

The release of the award-winning documentary about ME, Unrest, available on Netflix.

Learn more – watch the presentation

#MEAction activist, Terri L. Wilder, MSW, spoke about how NY activists have been successful in publishing articles on ME for medical associations. Watch below. Terri is currently the Director of HIV/AIDS Education and Training at a large hospital in New York City.