My Nonprofit Reviews
David Spangler
Review for Nevada Center for Biomedical Research, Reno, NV, USA
This Whittemore Peterson Institute gave people suffering from Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.), sometimes erroneously called "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" hope for effective treatment when they published their research paper on XMRV retrovirus being implicated in M.E. However that hope was dashed when Mrs. Whittemore summarily fired the dedicated researcher who had made the research possible, Dr. Judy Mikovits. This was worsened when the Whittemores filed criminal charges against Mikovits for theft of her own notebooks. (That charge was later dismissed.) The saga continued when Harvey Whittemore, Annette's husband, was criminally charged for making illegal political campaign contributions to Sen. Harry Reid, among others. This federal criminal charge is still pending against Mr. Whittemore. Does anyone need to know more to understand that this is not a reputable charity?
More Feedback
How would you describe the help you got from this organization?
None
How likely are you to recommend this organization to a friend?
No
How do you feel you were treated by this organization?
Badly
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2013
Unfortunately, Mr. Spangler is misinformed on a number of topics, and his comments are detrimental to the reputation of the institute. Dr. Mikovits was a member of a research team, not the only researcher at the institute. She was terminated for insubordination when she refused to return a colleague's research materials. As president and CEO of the institute, Annette Whittemore reported the theft of valuable institute property that was missing following Dr. Mikovits’ termination. The police investigated the matter and the district attorney’s office determined to pursue a criminal case against Dr. Mikovits. Finally, we think that it is important to emphasize that private matters involving Mr. Whittemore have nothing to do with the institute. Mr. Whittemore is a generous donor and a co-founder of the institute, but he has no responsibility within the institute.
Review for Nevada Center for Biomedical Research, Reno, NV, USA
These are the same people who owned VIP Dx which sold useless XMRV blood tests to people with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.) for hundreds of dollars--AFTER they knew the tests were worthless. Now they say they are doing research and treatment for people with "neuroimmune disease," but I don't believe it. They are the same money-grubbing people who sold the worthless tests. So far they have done nothing to help the people they say they are serving. And now they have their relatives posting good reviews on this website. Unbelievable!
More Feedback
How would you describe the help you got from this organization?
None
How likely are you to recommend this organization to a friend?
No
How do you feel you were treated by this organization?
Badly
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2012
