Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia: Theory, Assessment & Treatment

Presenter Biography:  

Leonard A. Jason, PhD

Leonard A. Jason, PhD is a Professor of Psychology at DePaul University and the Director of the Center for Community Research. He received his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Rochester. Jason is a former president of the Division of Community Psychology of the American Psychological Association (APA) and a past editor of The Community Psychologist. He received the 1997 Distinguished Contributions to Theory and Research Award from the Society for Community Research and Action (Division 27 of the APA). Jason has published over 384 articles and 65 chapters on chronic fatigue syndrome, preventive school based interventions; the prevention of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug abuse; media interventions; and program evaluation. He has served on the editorial boards of ten psychological journals and has edited or written 17 books. Jason has served on review committees of the National Institute of Drug Abuse and the National Institute of Mental Health and has received over $16,000,000 in federal research grants. He has received three media awards from the APA, and is frequently asked to comment on policy issues for numerous media outlets.

He was presented the 1997 CSN ACTION Champion Award by the Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome Association of America in appreciation of research and educational efforts in behalf of persons with CFS. He was presented with the Dutch ME-Foundation International ME-Award for 2003 for outstanding work in the past ten years in the field of CFS. Jason is currently the only psychologist who is on the Board of Directors of the American Association of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, the scientific organization in this field. Jason is currently the Vice President of this Association. Jason was a member of the "name-change" work group, which had been appointed by the CFS Coordinating Committee. He was invited to participate in the CDC sponsored issues related to the current chronic fatigue syndrome case definition. In 1995, Jason was awarded a 5-year grant from NIH to study the epidemiology of CFS and in 2000, he was awarded another 5-year grant from NIH to study non-pharmacologic treatment approaches with CFS. In 2005, he was awarded another NIH grant to study the prognosis of individuals who had been diagnosed with CFS.