Dolphin
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Edited to add: The latest round of crowdfunding has now started:
https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/46120
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https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/43450/updates/1
April crowdfunding coming up....
March 28, 2025
Dear Trial By Error supporter--
A year ago, I indicated that I would likely end my Trial By Error project—or at least this phase of it—in June of this year. After sending messages to every single donor from last spring’s crowdfunding and hearing back from many, I decided to continue for one more year. I’ll be 70 in October, 2026, and plan to retire from Berkeley at that time. That means I’ll do another crowdfunding in April, and one again in the fall, and after that will likely call it a day. Again, as I indicated last year, I leave myself room to change my mind. But at this point, that’s the plan.
As everyone can see, it is a very, very challenging environment in the U.S., with the country descending into a dystopian nightmare. The federal government is slashing and abandoning public health and medical research programs right and left. Like all major research universities, the University of California, including Berkeley, is on the Trump list of targets.
As I have always made clear, crowdfunding is the least favorite part of what I do. But I now find myself in a peculiar situation. Unlike many of my colleagues at Berkeley and elsewhere, I have a source of funding that can’t be cancelled by the federal government. I am heartsick at these developments, as is every sane person I know—both in the U.S. and elsewhere. It goes without saying that I am also extremely grateful to everyone whose generosity over the years has helped me continue with this project.
I am currently in Australia for a few weeks—a blissful escape from the onslaught of bad news back home. Last week, my colleague and friend Dr David Joffe and I gave a joint presentation at the Kirby Institute, a prominent research center at the University of New South Wales. Dr Joffe spoke about the pathophysiology and economic burden of Long Covid. I spoke about the deeply flawed research into psycho-behavioral treatments—specifically, the PACE trial for ME/CFS and last year’s REGAIN trial for Long Covid. The presentation has so far been viewed 1500 times.
This week I met with the folks at Emerge Australia, a national ME/CFS organization, and next week I’m heading out to Perth to spend some time with the heroic Alem Matthees and his family. Alem is the patient whose successful but arduous effort to liberate the raw PACE trial data from the clutches of Queen Mary University of London ruined what remained of his health.
(To be clear—Berkeley provides no funds for travel expenses. I cover my own costs for work-related overseas trips, although sometimes I have received reimbursement for in-country transportation and lodging, as happened last fall on my six-city tour of Ireland. Occasionally, I accept offers to crash in someone’s spare room or on their couch.)
I will return from Australia on April 3rd. The April crowdfunding is scheduled to start after I get back home, on April 5th. rather than on April 1st.
Thanks again for the amazing support—especially in these extremely difficult and confusing times.
https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/46120
====
https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/43450/updates/1
April crowdfunding coming up....
March 28, 2025
Dear Trial By Error supporter--
A year ago, I indicated that I would likely end my Trial By Error project—or at least this phase of it—in June of this year. After sending messages to every single donor from last spring’s crowdfunding and hearing back from many, I decided to continue for one more year. I’ll be 70 in October, 2026, and plan to retire from Berkeley at that time. That means I’ll do another crowdfunding in April, and one again in the fall, and after that will likely call it a day. Again, as I indicated last year, I leave myself room to change my mind. But at this point, that’s the plan.
As everyone can see, it is a very, very challenging environment in the U.S., with the country descending into a dystopian nightmare. The federal government is slashing and abandoning public health and medical research programs right and left. Like all major research universities, the University of California, including Berkeley, is on the Trump list of targets.
As I have always made clear, crowdfunding is the least favorite part of what I do. But I now find myself in a peculiar situation. Unlike many of my colleagues at Berkeley and elsewhere, I have a source of funding that can’t be cancelled by the federal government. I am heartsick at these developments, as is every sane person I know—both in the U.S. and elsewhere. It goes without saying that I am also extremely grateful to everyone whose generosity over the years has helped me continue with this project.
I am currently in Australia for a few weeks—a blissful escape from the onslaught of bad news back home. Last week, my colleague and friend Dr David Joffe and I gave a joint presentation at the Kirby Institute, a prominent research center at the University of New South Wales. Dr Joffe spoke about the pathophysiology and economic burden of Long Covid. I spoke about the deeply flawed research into psycho-behavioral treatments—specifically, the PACE trial for ME/CFS and last year’s REGAIN trial for Long Covid. The presentation has so far been viewed 1500 times.
This week I met with the folks at Emerge Australia, a national ME/CFS organization, and next week I’m heading out to Perth to spend some time with the heroic Alem Matthees and his family. Alem is the patient whose successful but arduous effort to liberate the raw PACE trial data from the clutches of Queen Mary University of London ruined what remained of his health.
(To be clear—Berkeley provides no funds for travel expenses. I cover my own costs for work-related overseas trips, although sometimes I have received reimbursement for in-country transportation and lodging, as happened last fall on my six-city tour of Ireland. Occasionally, I accept offers to crash in someone’s spare room or on their couch.)
I will return from Australia on April 3rd. The April crowdfunding is scheduled to start after I get back home, on April 5th. rather than on April 1st.
Thanks again for the amazing support—especially in these extremely difficult and confusing times.
Last edited:
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