Bell, David S(heffield) 1945-

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BELL, David S(heffield) 1945-

PERSONAL:

Born August 5, 1945; son of Charles C. and Helen (Sheffield) Bell; married Karen Maziarz (a physician), September 1, 1973; children: Nadira, David, Omar. Education: Attended Harvard University, 1967; Boston University, M.D., 1971.

ADDRESSES:

Office—77 S. Main St., Lyndonville, NY 14098-9771. Agent—John Hawkins, Paul R. Reynolds, Inc., 599 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10017.

CAREER:

Physician in private practice, Lyndonville, NY, 1978-90, 1995—; Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, assistant professor of medicine, 1990-95. Served as medical adviser to the Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome Association of America, 1990-92, member of scientific advisory committee, 1992—, member of board of directors, 1992-97; advisor to the Association of Young People with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, 1991—; member of the medical advisory board of the International Federation of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Associations, 1992—; served on the editorial board for the Journal for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, 1992—; served on the Physician's Review Committee of the Centers for Disease Control chronic fatigue project, 1992-94; served on the planning board for the National Institutes of Health State of the Science committee on CFS, 2000—; presenter at hundreds of medical conferences.

MEMBER:

American Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (member of board of directors, 1994—; vice president, 2000—).

WRITINGS:

A Time to Be Born, Morrow (New York, NY), 1975.

The Disease of a Thousand Names, Pollard Publications (Lyndonville, NY), 1991; revised as The Doctor's Guide to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Understanding, Treating, and Living with CFIDS, Addison-Wesley (Reading, MA), 1994.

Medico-Legal Assessment of Head Injury, Thomas (Springfield, IL), 1992.

(With Stef Donev) Curing Fatigue: A Step-by-Step Plan to Uncover and Eliminate the Causes of Chronic Fatigue, Rodale Press (Emmaus, PA), 1993.

A Parents' Guide to CFIDS: How to Be an Advocate for Your Child with Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome, Haworth Medical Press (New York, NY), 1999.

Also author of Three Children, 1973, and Faces of CFS, self-published, 2001.

SIDELIGHTS:

Though earlier in his career Dr. David S. Bell published works on more generic issues in pediatric medicine, he has since specialized in works on chronic fatigue syndrome. His titles about this somewhat controversial disease—which some in the medical field feel is primarily psychosomatic—include The Doctor's Guide to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Understanding, Treating, and Living with CFIDS, A Parents' Guide to CFIDS: How to Be an Advocate for Your Child with Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome, and Faces of CFS.

First published as The Disease of a Thousand Names in 1991, The Doctor's Guide to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome makes Bell's assertion that millions of Americans suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome. A Publishers Weekly critic praised the author because he "recognizes the frustration of physicians and researchers who want to alleviate the suffering" of chronic fatigue syndrome patients "but have not yet found a way."

Bell published his 2001 volume, Faces of CSF, himself, but it has still received good notice. On its pages are the personal stories of several people who suffer from CSF. Lisa Larden, reviewing the book for the Web site Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Fibromyalgia, reported that "it is readily apparent… that Bell has given his heart and soul to his CFS patients and continues to wrestle with the many still-unanswered questions that surround this complex disease."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Publishers Weekly, December 20, 1993, review of The Doctor's Guide to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Understanding, Treating, and Living with CFIDS, pp. 67-68.