Ed Yong is a celebrated science journalist who cares deeply about accurate, nuanced, and empathetic reporting; clear and vivid storytelling; and social equality. His coverage of ME/CFS and Long COVID for The Atlantic has been groundbreaking, and has contributed to a changing public perception of these illnesses, moving us toward a public health agenda that recognizes the serious nature and commonalities of infection-associated chronic conditions, and supports advances in research and clinical care.

Mr. Yong shared with us how he came to the subject of ME/CFS and long COVID and what has motivated him to dig so deeply and tenaciously into them.  He explained how he chose sources to interview and how he prepares for those interviews.  We heard his thoughts on what is yet to be explored about ME/CFS from a journalistic perspective, and how science journalism contributes to changing perceptions.  

Mr. Yong is a Pulitzer Prize-winning science journalist on staff at The Atlantic.  In addition to his work for The Atlantic, Yong’s writing has been featured in National Geographic, The New Yorker, Wired, The New York Times, Nature, New Scientist and Scientific American.   He is the author of two New York Times bestsellers—An Immense World, about the extraordinary sensory worlds of other animals; and I Contain Multitudes, about the amazing partnerships between animals and microbes.  

Visit Ed Yong's website to learn more and sign up for his newsletter.

This event was part of the Association's 2023 Annual Meeting of the Membership.

Materials from the presentation:

• Slides from the presentation

• Full recording (This version contains chapter headings for easier viewing)

Comments exerpted from chat and Q&A:

• Ed recommended Sarah Ramey's book The Lady's Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness: A Memoir (Amazon)
• FYI. Two Massachusetts researchers were highlighted in the “Movers and Shakers” slide show earlier: Liisa Selin and Anna Gil at UMass Chan Medical School. They are studying immune abnormalities in ME/CFS and LC. If you are interested in supporting their research, feel free to contact me. — Best, Rivka (@rivkatweets)
• The Untreated Epidemic: Understanding and Treating Long COVID and ME/CFS. Monday, Nov 6, 12-4 pm ET. Everyone welcome: Virtual and in person (masks strongly encouraged). FREE CME Credit . Organized by #MEAction New Hampshire. Website: bit.ly/meactionnh
• Betsy Ladyzhets, science journalist https://betsyladyzhets.com/
• Amy Proal https://twitter.com/microbeminded2
• "The People’s CDC is working hard on masking and air cleaning. https://peoplescdc.org/ "
• Follow Ed here and subscribe to his newsletter: https://buttondown.email/edyong209
• "For anyone here with Long COVID or ME/CFS who might be interested in a light-hearted, informational newsletter, check out The Tonic, my Substack newsletter (completely free to subscribe): https://amythetonic.substack.com"
• "Anyone who is advocate and interested at promoting R&D for ME/cfs incl with startups, can contact me. I have list of 240 companies, orgs, startups etc that do, or might be useful for ME/cfs and happy to discuss. Mark Camenzind, Advocate for ME/cfs and IAQ = Indoor Air quality"

Click below to view Ed's kudoboard!