DR. ALISON BESTED

Director

Dr. Alison Bested graduated from the University of Toronto’s Haematological Pathology residency program and passed the Royal College of Canada’s specialty board examinations in Haematological Pathology in 1984. She is one of only 100 Haematological Pathologists in Canada. Her residency training covered a wide variety of areas including: Immunology, Blood Banking, Genetics, Anatomical Pathology, Internal Medicine and Haematology both clinical and laboratory.  Previously Dr. Bested was a lecturer in the Department of Pathology and Head of the Division of Haematology and Immuno-Haematology at the Toronto East General and Orthopaedic Hospital from 1985 to 1992.

For the past 23 years her medical specialty practice was dedicated to patients who had the following complex medical conditions: Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), Fibromyalgia, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and chronic Lyme disease. Over the years she has assessed and treated thousands of patients with these medical conditions. Dr. Bested is licensed to practice medicine in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia where she continues to work as a medical consultant.

She was on staff at the Environmental Health Clinic at Women’s College Hospital from 1996 to 2012 as the Medical Specialist Liaison and was the Acting Medical Director for a year finishing July 2008. At the Environmental Health Clinic, Dr. Bested taught medical students, nursing students and medical residents. She was a lecturer at the University of Toronto in the Department of Family and Community Medicine. She was the Medical Director for the Complex Chronic Diseases Program at BC Women’s Hospital from October 2012 until May 2014. Currently she is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia in the Faculty of Medicine.

Dr. Bested was chosen by Health Canada to participate on the Expert Medical Consensus Panel that wrote the Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Clinical Working Case Definition, Diagnostic and Treatment Protocols. This consensus definition was published in the Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in 2003. In the literature this is known as the Canadian Consensus Definition of ME/CFS and is used worldwide by clinicians and researchers.

She was one of the authors of the 2014 ME/CFS Primer for Clinicians published by the International Association of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. This summary publication is an updated version of the Canadian Consensus Definition of ME/CFS.

Two books were published by Dr. Bested and her co-authors: “Hope and Help for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia”, 2nd Edition, 2008 and “The Complete Fibromyalgia Health Diet Guild and Cookbook”, 2013.