Meryl Nass, MD

Diplomate, American Board of Internal Medicine

Internist (1993, 1999 - present)

• Hospitalist, Mount Desert Island Hospital (2003 – present)

• Private Practice, Freeport, Maine, 4 years (ended 2002 with surgery for a spinal meningioma)

• Chair of Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee (2006 – present)

• Director of Pulmonary Rehabilitation (2006 – present)

• Never a malpractice suit

Emergency Medicine Physician (1985-1999)

Expert on anthrax and bioterrorism

• Member of federal government’s DNI Summer Hard Problem Program 2008, studying “Biological Warfare Perpetrators: Rationality, Culture, and Likelihood of Discovery.” Assisting in discussions and debates and preparing an analytic product for use by the intelligence community on this issue, as further studies continue.

• Produced two Congressional testimonies on the prevention and response to bioterrorism (2001 and 2005), and two other testimonies on the adverse effects associated with use of anthrax vaccine (both 1999).

• Listed in Who’s Who in America since 2004; also listed in Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare, Who’s Who in Science and Engineering and Who’s Who in American Women.

• Developed a range of recommendations for dealing with the anthrax domestic terrorism crisis as it unfolded, published on my website (2001).  A number of these recommendations became part of the official response.

• Member of Federation of American Scientists’ Working Group on Investigation of Alleged Use or Release of Biological or Toxin Weapons Agents. Coauthored a detailed report for the 1996 Biological Weapons Convention Review Conference on how to investigate allegations of biological warfare (1994-1996). 

• Showed that Zimbabwe’s anthrax epidemic, which occurred during its civil war, was not a natural occurrence and could only be due to deliberate spread (1992).

Expert on Gulf War Syndrome

• Testified before two Congressional committees on Gulf War Syndrome, showing that many different exposures likely contributed to the manifestations of this illness, although anthrax vaccine played a significant role in its causation (both 2007).

• Member, Maine Commission to Protect the Lives and Health of Members of the Maine National Guard (2007 - present).

• Testified to the United Kingdom Independent Inquiry on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses, 2004

• Evaluated and treated approximately 1,000 patients with the overlapping disorders Gulf War Syndrome, Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Developed a multi-component outpatient program to address the variable aspects of these disorders, which has resulted in significant functional improvement in the majority of patients (1999 - present).

• Testified to the Institute of Medicine Committee on Health Effects Associated with Exposures During the Persian Gulf War (1999).

Expert diagnostician

• Consultant to the Cuban Ministry of Health. Diagnosed Cuba’s optic and peripheral neuropathy epidemic as resulting from the combination of ingested cyanide and malnutrition, in which the substrates for detoxification were unavailable (1993).

Medical Ethics

• Critiqued the multi-center ARDSNet study of ventilator settings in ARDS and acute lung injury for the NIH Office of Human Research Protection, on the basis of: enrollment without informed consent, failure to apply the current standard of care in the control arm, inability to diverge from the study protocol when patients exhibited evidence of harm, poor experimental design resulting in the claim that low-volume ventilation strategies should be adopted as the new standard of care, and inadequate data safety monitoring. The Office of Human Research Protection subsequently halted this trial in response to criticisms (2003).
  
• Critiqued the military collection of adverse event data, in which the rate of serious side effects for smallpox vaccine in soldiers was only 14% as high as determined by CDC for vaccinated civilians (2003).
• Provided comments to FDA and the House National Security Subcommittee on Executive Order 13139, which created a new policy for military use of unlicensed medical therapeutics without informed consent (1999).

• Critiqued the military proposal to use soldiers for vaccine experiments without informed consent in the Joint Vaccine Acquisition Program Environmental Impact Statement (1997).
  

Teaching

• Taught history and physical course to 2^nd year University of Massachusetts medical students (1989-1993)

• Taught ACLS (1985-1995)

• Bedside teaching to 4^th year medical students and physician assistant students (2003 – present).

Consultant or Reviewer

• Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, 2006
• BioMedCentral, 2006
• Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 2006
• Expert Opinion on Biological Therapy, 2003
• MedaCorp 2003 - present
• Epotec 2002
• Unsolved Mysteries (television program), 2002
• SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) Yearbook, 2002
• The Lancet, 2002
• Expert Opinion on Pharmacotherapy, 2002
• Medcases Inc., 2001
• Interamerican Development Bank, 2001
• American Hospital Formulary Service 2002 Drug Information Yearbook, 2001
• General Accounting Office, 1998-9
• The Medical Letter, 1998-2000

Medical Advisory Board Member

• Alliance for Human Research Protection, New York, NY
• Institute for Molecular Medicine, Huntington Beach, CA
• National Vaccine Information Center, Vienna, VA
• National Military and Biodefense Vaccine Project, Vienna, VA
• Protecting Our Guardians, Birmingham, AL

Testimonies

• Hearing, Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. “Gulf War Illnesses.” September 25, 2007. (Oral and Written). http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dc3wqmd7_286w6z99

• Hearing, House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Health. “Gulf War Illnesses, Anthrax Vaccine, and Steps Toward Improving DVA Healthcare and Research for Gulf War Veterans.” July 26, 2007. (Oral and Written). http://merylnass.googlepages.com/writtentestimony7-26-07.doc

• Hearing, Senate HELP Subcommittee on Health and Bioterrorism, “Bioshield 2: Next Steps.” February 8, 2005. (Written). http://www.ahrp.org/testimonypresentations/NassBiodefense0205.php

• Hearing, Independent Inquiry on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses, September 1, 2004, “Anthrax Vaccine and Gulf War veterans’ illnesses.” London, England. (Written and oral) http://www.lloyd-gwii.com/admin/ManagedFiles/2/M%20Nass%20presentation%20for%20GWS%20inquiry,%20Sept%201%202004.doc

• Meeting, Office of Human Research Protection, Department of Health and Human Services. June 10, 2003. “Ethical and Scientific Concerns in an ARDS Network Trial.” (Written and oral) http://www.ahrp.org/testimonypresentations/ARDSNet0603/nass.html

• Joint Hearing, Massachusetts State Legislature. May 15, 2003. “Mandatory National Guard Vaccinations.” (Oral)

• Hearing, House Committee on Government Reform. November 14, 2001. “Preparing a Medical Response to Bioterrorism.” (Written) http://www.anthraxvaccine.org/response.htm

• Meeting, Institute of Medicine Committee on Anthrax Vaccine Safety and Efficacy. October 3, 2000. (Written and oral) http://www.anthraxvaccine.org/IOMtalk.htm

• Meeting, Institute of Medicine Committee on Health Effects Associated with Exposures During the Persian Gulf War. December 15, 1999. (Written and oral)

• Hearing, House Subcommittee on National Security, Veterans Affairs and International Relations. “Executive Order 13139: Strengthening Oversight of Investigational Products.” November 9, 1999. (Written) http://www.anthraxvaccine.org/doc1.htm

• Hearing, House Military Personnel Subcommittee. September 30, 1999. “Anthrax Vaccine Issues: Clearing the Air.” (Written) http://www.anthraxvaccine.org/Testimonies.html

• Hearing, House Subcommittee on National Security, Veterans Affairs and International Relations. April 29, 1999. “Anthrax Vaccine: Safety, Efficacy and Legality.” (Written and oral) http://www.anthraxvaccine.org/Testimonies.html

Academic Publications

1. Nass M. Letter. Data vs Conclusions in the Optic Neuritis Vaccination Investigation. Arch Neurol 2006; 63: 1809-1810.

2. Nass M. Letter. Safety of the smallpox vaccine among military recipients.
   JAMA. 2003 ;290:2123-4.

3. Nass M. Anthrax Vaccine: Caveat Emptor (Let the Buyer Beware). Current Treatment Options in Infectious Disease 2003;5:361-4.

4. Nass M and Nicholson G. Anthrax Vaccine: Historical Review and Current Controversies. Journal of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine 2002; 12: 277-86. http://www.immed.org/publications/gulf_war_illness/2JNEM_Nass_Nicolson2002ss.html

5. Nicholson GL, Berns P, Nasrall MY, Haier J, Nicholson NL and Nass M. Gulf War Illnesses: Chemical, Biological and Radiological Exposures Resulting in Chronic Fatiguing Illnesses Can be Identified and Treated. J Chronic Fatigue Syndrome 2003; 11:135-154. http://www.immed.org/publications/gulf_war_illness/netaGWI_JCFS.html

6. Nass M. Author Reply. American Journal of Public Health 2002; 92: 1708-9. http://www.anthraxvaccine.org/CV/AJPH_letter_exchange.html

7. Nass M. Anthrax Vaccine Not Safe and Effective (letter). Emergency Medicine News, July 2002; 24: 44. http://www.anthraxvaccine.org/emn.html

8. Nass M. The Anthrax Vaccine Program, and an Analysis of the CDC’s Recommendations for Vaccine Use. American Journal of Public Health, 2002; 92: 715-21.  http://www.anthraxvaccine.org/CV/AJPH_May2002.html

9. Nass M. Who is Protecting the Public Health? Z Magazine, April 2002; 14: 7-10. http://www.zmag.org/ZMag/articles/april02nass.htm 

10. Nass M. Anthrax Threat is Real (letter). Technology Review, October 2001; 104: 2 MIT. http://www.anthraxvaccine.org/CV/Technology_Review_Letter.html

11. Nicholson GL, Nass M, Nicholson NL. The Anthrax Vaccine Controversy—Questions about its Efficacy, Safety and Strategy. Medical Sentinel, 2000; 5: 97-101. http://www.haciendapub.com/article43.html

12. Nicholson GL, Nass M, Nicholson NL. Anthrax Vaccine: Controversy Over Safety and Efficacy. Antimicrobics and Infectious Disease Newsletter, 2000; 18:1-6. http://www.immed.org/publications/gulf_war_illness/anthrax3-18-00.html

13. Nass M. Should the Military Suspend Its Anthrax Vaccine Program? Physicians Weekly, June 19, 2000; 17:1.

14. Nass M. The Anthrax Dilemma: Safety Issues Revisited. Medicine and Global Survival, 1999; 6: 54. http://www.ippnw.org/MGS/V6N1AnthraxUpdate.html

15. Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: A 1999 Consensus. Archives of Environmental Health, 1999; 54, 147–149. http://www.scienceblog.com/community/older/1999/B/199901461.html

16. Nass M. Biological Warfare and Vaccines: Anthrax. Applied Science and Analysis Newsletter, April 15, 1999: 10-11, continued in later issues.

17. Nass M. Anthrax vaccine: Model of a response to the biological warfare threat. Infectious Disease Clinics of North America, 1999; 13: 187-208. http://www.anthraxvaccine.org/AVmodel.htm

18. Sidel V, Nass M, Ensign T. The Anthrax Dilemma. Medicine and Global Survival, 1998; 5: 97-104. http://www.ippnw.org/MGS/V5N2Anthrax.html

19. Nass M. Will anthrax vaccine help prevent biological warfare? Defense Systems International, Fall 1998. 35-39. (reprint of number 20). http://www.anthraxvaccine.org/CV/Defense_Systems_International.html

20. Nass M. Biological Warfare (letter). The Lancet, 1998; 352: 491-2. http://www.anthraxvaccine.org/CV/Lancet_1998.html

21. Nass M. Anthrax Vaccine and the Prevention of Biological Warfare? Applied Science and Analysis Newsletter, April 30, 1998: 1, 23-25, 32.

22. Report of the Subgroup on Investigation of Alleged Use or Release of Biological or Toxin Weapons Agents. Federation of American Scientists Working Group on Biological Weapons Verification, April 1996. http://www.fas.org/bwc/papers/report.html

23. Nass M. The Choice is Between Arms Control and Abolition. Medicine and Global Survival, 1995; 2: 180-181. http://www.ippnw.org/MGS/V2N3CWForum.html

24. Nass M. Germ Warfare: Time Now for Verifiable Disarmament (Op-Ed). Interpress News Service (syndicated), March 1993.

25. Nass M. Anthrax Epizootic in Zimbabwe 1978-1980: Due to Deliberate Spread? PSR Quarterly, 1992; 2: 198-209. http://www.anthraxvaccine.org/zimbabwe.html

26. Nass M. Zimbabwe’s Anthrax Epidemic. Covert Action, 1992; 43: 12-18, 61.

27. Nass M. Can Biological, Toxin, and Chemical Warfare Be Eliminated? Politics and the Life Sciences, 1992; 11: 30-32. http://www.anthraxvaccine.org/CV/Pol_Life_Sci_1992.html

28. Nass M. Author reply. PSR Quarterly, 1991; 1: 230.

29. Nass M. The Labyrinth of Biological Defense. PSR Quarterly, 1991; 1: 24-30.

30. Nass M, Langford HG, Jackson JF, Parent AD. Acromegaly. Journal of the Mississippi State Medical Association, 1985; 26: 251-255.

31. Zeitlin M, Masangkay M, Consolacion M, Nass M. Breastfeeding and Nutritional Status in Depressed Areas of Greater Manila, Phillippines. Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 1978; 7: 103-113.

32. Grant CK, Adams EP, Nass M. Appearance of Cytolytic Antibodies in Sheep Lymph Following Immunisation with Tumour Cells: Identification of Antibody Subclasses. Australian Journal of Experimental Biology and Medical Science, 1976; 53: 381-387
    

Dr. Nass’ papers have been included in the curricula at Stanford Medical School, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and other graduate and undergraduate programs.

Articles written about Dr. Nass

• Portland Phoenix December 10-16, 2004

• Brunswick Times Record. Page 1. October 12-14, 2001.

• Stars and Stripes. March, 2001

• Technology Review. Alumni section, page 16, November/December 2000

• Lewiston Sun-Journal. Page 1. March 13, 2000 (Associated Press)

• Brunswick Times Record. Page 1. March 13, 2000

• Portland Press Herald. Page 1. March 11, 2000

• Maine Times. Page 9. August 26, 1999
  

Books that have discussed Dr. Nass’ work

• The War Next Time: Countering Rogue States and Terrorists Armed with Chemical and Biological Weapons. Schneider BR and Davis JA, Eds. USAF Counterproliferation Center, Maxwell AFB, Alabama. (See Chapter 5: Pointing the Finger: Unclassified Methods to Identify Covert Biological Warfare Programs, by Dorothy L. DuBois.) 2004

• Project Coast: Apartheid’s Chemical and Biological Warfare Programme.. Gould C and Folb P. United Nations Publications (UNIDIR). 2002.

• Anthrax: A Deadly Shot in the Dark. Thomas S. Heemstra. Crystal Communications. 2002.

• Bio-terrorism: How to Survive the 25 Most Dangerous Biological Weapons. Pamela Weintraub. Citadel Press. 2002.

• The Rollback of South Africa’s Biological Warfare Program. Stephen Burgess and Helen Purkitt. US Air Force Institute for National Security Studies. 2001.

• Bioterrorism and Biocrimes. W. Seth Carus. Center for Counterproliferation Research, National Defense University. 2001.

• Anthrax, A Practical Guide for Citizens. The Parents Committee for Public Awareness. Harvard Perspectives Press. 2001.

• Gulf War Syndrome, Legacy of a Perfect War. Alison Johnson. MCS Information Exchange. 2001

• Immunization: History, Ethics, Law and Health. Catherine Diodati. Integral Aspects Incorporated. 2000.

• Plague Wars: The Terrifying Reality of Biological Warfare. Tom Mangold and Jeff Goldberg. St. Martin’s Press. 1999.

• Scientific Aspects of Control of Biological Weapons. The Royal Society (UK). 1994.

Education

• BS Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (1974)

• Medical student years one and two, New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ (1976-1978)

• MD, University of Mississippi Medical School, Jackson, MS (1980)

• Residency, Internal Medicine, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS (1982-1985)

Prior Employment

• ER Physician, Parkview Hospital, Brunswick, Maine (1997-1999)

• ER Physician, Wing Hospital, Palmer, Massachusetts (1986-1993; 1995-1997)

• ER Physician, Franklin Medical Center, Greenfield, Massachusetts (1994-1995)

• Internist, Kaiser Permanente, Amherst, Massachusetts (1993)

• ER Physician, Farren Hospital, Turners Falls, Massachusetts (1985-1986)