IIMEC14 is the fourteenth annual international ME conference that the charity has organised in London.
For many of those years the charity often communicated with a patient/advocate in Sweden - someone we are proud to have called our friend.

Anne Örtegren passed away in January 2018.

Anne was not just a good friend of the charity, she was an inspiration and a reason to continue to work hard to get high-quality biomedical research into ME and up-to-date education in healthcare and the disease.

Despite incredible suffering, she was able to influence so many positive things in the ME world - from helping other patients, to educating the media and the public about ME, to encouraging researchers to become interested in ME and working with clinicians to learn more about ME.
She was a vital link in helping us to working to build international collaboration, especially in her native Sweden.

We can see the results of her tireless efforts still today as we continue to facilitate collaborations between researchers in different countries and as we initiate the European ME CLinician Council (EMECC).
We would have been discussing this with Anne today had the chance been there.
Anne represented the very best of ME advocacy - despite the incredible suffering she experienced. Her support and friendship to us, and many others, was an example of resilience, determination, kindness and modesty.
Probably the best advocate for ME whom we have known.

There is little that we can do other than to continue to campaign for proper research into ME - and to find, fund and facilitate biomedical research which will lead to the uncovering of the cause(s) of ME and to development of treatments for the disease.

This year again the charity continues to honour and recognise the work of Anne by devoting a dedicated presentation slot in our conference programme.

The Anne Örtegren memorial Lecture 2019 will be given by Professor Stuart Bevan of Kings College London.

Stuart Bevan is Professor of Pharmacology at the Wolfson Centre for Age Related Diseases.

From 1997 to 2005, he was Head of the Chronic Pain Unit for Novartis based in the Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research laboratories on the UCL campus

Studies in Stuart Bevan’s Lab are focused on sensory transduction in peripheral sensory nerves and associated tissues, and the cellular mechanisms of pain and analgesia.

These investigations are carried out using a combination of in vitro methods (microfluorimetry, electrophysiology, immunostaining and molecular biology) and in vivo behavioural measurements.

The current focus of the laboratory is on the roles of Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) channels in sensory transduction in normal physiology and in pathophysiological conditions including pain induced by neuropathy, inflammation, osteoarthritis and chemotherapy treatment.