Dr. Lucinda Bateman (right) seen here with her sister Shauna Bateman Horne (left).

Spotlight: Dr. Lucinda “Cindy” Bateman

Dr. Lucinda Bateman is a crusader, although she would never call herself one. Dedicated physician, vocal advocate, gifted teacher—she might agree to these designations. But crusader, no. Instead, she thinks of herself as a scientist and healer, firmly rooted in academic discipline and empirical reasoning. Not a crusader, impassioned by a cause. In fact, she is both scientist and crusader.

Dr. Bateman has spent the last 15 years working with patients who have CFIDS or fibromyalgia (FM). Her keen interest in these diseases began in the mid-1980s when her sister, Shauna Bateman Horne, became ill with what would eventually be diagnosed as CFIDS. Dr. Bateman, a medical student at Johns Hopkins Medical School at the time, watched her happy and healthy sister suffer with a series of illnesses that exacted a silent and permanent toll on her. When she finished medical school, she went back to her hometown, Salt Lake City , for her residency at the University of Utah and became certified in general internal medicine in 1991. Throughout these years, Dr. Bateman wanted to know everything she could about the disease that was attacking her sister.

Her interest in chronic illnesses was well known locally, and when she started a private group practice in Salt Lake City in 1991, physicians across the area referred their CFIDS and FM patients to her. “It was a different time,” she explains. “Many doctors did not want anything to do with CFIDS or FM patients. They weren’t comfortable even diagnosing these illnesses, much less treating them. So CFIDS patients used to be diverted to me without my permission.”

Dr. Bateman didn’t turn them away. Instead, what began as an effort to help her sister took on much broader implications as she worked with scores of patients who had ill-defined chronic illnesses. She studied the research, attended conferences on CFIDS and FM and networked with other physicians treating these diseases. But it wasn’t enough. In 2000, she left her practice to focus exclusively on CFIDS and FM, opening her own Fatigue Consultation Clinic in Salt Lake City.

“My personal mission is to change the way these diseases are treated in my sphere of influence in Utah ,” she says. “I come from a disciplined academic background. Plus I have experience first with my sister and now with my extensive clinical practice. So I have my feet in both worlds. I think my job is to bring the information that’s sound, good scientific information to the attention of academic institutions and health care providers in Utah so they will become more interested and involved with these diseases.”

That mission became much more personal in May 2001 when her beloved sister died of complications related to non-Hodgkins lymphoma. “I believe her long battle with CFIDS may have predisposed her to the development of this malignancy,” Dr. Bateman says.

At her outpatient clinic, Dr. Bateman has designed a thorough and methodical three- to four-hour workup of new patients. Her goal is not to treat large numbers of patients, but to “move patients to a better level of function.”  Still, she has seen more than 700 new patients with CFIDS or FM since the clinic opened in 2000, and she compiles extensive notes and charts to give to primary care physicians and specialists treating her patients “to help educate them about theses diseases.”

Outside of her clinical practice, Dr. Bateman is also the co-founder and executive director of OFFER, the Organization for Fatigue and Fibromyalgia Education and Research. Her brainchild, this nonprofit organization was started in 2001 to help eradicate these two diseases by spearheading research, education and advocacy efforts. While the research and advocacy arms of the mission are still in the infancy stage, OFFER has been active in education initiatives. Last year the organization sponsored a very successful conference that drew 150 health care providers and 250 patients.

In May 2004 the organization is sponsoring another two-day conference in Utah and expects 250 health care providers on Friday, May 14, for the OFFER Provider Conference and 400 patients the following day for the OFFER Patient Conference. There are four workshop tracks: clinical, legal, mental health and physical modalities. “The conference is not for CFIDS and FM experts,” explains Dr. Bateman. “Our goal is to educate physicians, nurses, social workers, physician assistants, psychologists and other providers by offering overviews of current best practices and clinical research.” This year the conference will also include presentations geared toward attorneys, disability advocates and other nonmedical providers who deal with issues related to CFIDS and FM.

Dr. Bateman’s work has brought her accolades over the years. She has been named Teacher of the Year four times for her work in the Utah physician assistant’s program. And in 2000 she was one of only three Utah internists selected by her peers to be named in Top Doctors, a national publication. But it’s not the awards that keep her motivated. It’s the drive to change the way CFIDS and FM are diagnosed, treated and researched. “There’s a huge difference in the way these diseases are regarded by physicians and the public today compared to when my sister was first diagnosed with CFIDS. But we still have a long way to go. The battle isn’t over.”

You can bet Dr. Cindy Bateman—scientist and crusader—will be on the front lines of that battle.

NOTE: There is still time to register for the OFFER conference, which will be held at the Salt Lake City Sheraton on May 14­-15. If you are interested, go to www.offerutah.org for additional information and registration details.