The health core will provide the health and fitness data needed to support the Center's scientific agenda. The health core will screen appropriate subjects and controls for the Center projects. Subjects who are found to meet inclusion criteria will then require baseline health assessments and follow up assessments over study period. The core personnel will assess health status and health related outcome measures. Together with the psychosocial assessment core, the Health Core will define' subjects thoroughly with accurate information relating to potential subgroupings, then quantify the severity of illness. Illness will be defined across 4 domains: CFS specific symptoms, Illness burden, mental and physic fatigue subscales, and functional quality of life. In addition, the health core will coordinate with the NIAID Program Officer to refine CFS health assessment data collection and develop consensus across CFS CRC=s on assessment instruments in order to develop data sets which can be used across Centers for comparison. Finally, the health core staff are responsible for the safety of the study participants, and will provide medical supervision of the study subjects as they participate in the various phases of the Center's planned investigations. Drs. Major and Klimas are both highly experienced CFS clinicians and bring their expertise to both the Center and the investigators of the individual projects. In addition, Dr Klimas and more recently Dr. Major they have been directing a Health Assessment Core for the past 13 years, working in collaboration with this Center application=s investigators in the multi disciplinary study of HIV infected population. The depth of experience in reliable assessment, in understanding the flexibility in reducing subject burden, and in the ability to insert a clinical grounding into the thinking of the investigative teams brings strength to the overall Center.
