Dear Friends,
As this year comes to a close, I find myself thinking not just about what we accomplished — but why it mattered.
As a caregiver who understands how deeply personal this work is, I know what it means to live inside unanswered questions, to measure progress in inches, and to keep showing up even when the system doesn’t move fast enough.
That’s why this year felt different. Again and again in 2025, I saw what happens when patients, caregivers, researchers, clinicians, and donors refuse to give up on each other. I saw trust turn into participation, participation turn into data, and data turn into real scientific progress. The momentum we’re celebrating this year isn’t abstract. It’s the result of you staying engaged, staying vocal, and staying invested in a future that still has so much left to build.
Here are some of the accomplishments I’m celebrating this year:
- The Ramsay Research Grant Program has been successful in attracting new scientists to the field of ME/CFS, providing much-needed funding for researchers to engage with the science of the disease and build pilot data. Solve’s Ramsay Research Grant Program has been successful in attracting new scientists to the field of ME/CFS, providing much-needed funding for researchers to engage with the science of the disease and build pilot data, Plus, every dollar invested in the Ramsay Program generates, on average, an incredible 49× return in follow-on research funding.
- Solve M.E. and The Brain Inflammation Collaborative launched the Unified Platform to advance research across 30+ chronic conditions, uncovering hidden connections between inflammation, chronic illness, and overall health. The Unified Platform streamlines research efforts, lowers the cost of research, and opens new doors for scientists and patients alike.
- As federal budgets tightened, we worked alongside this community to hold the line for ME/CFS and Long Covid, helping ensure that key programs didn’t just survive but continued to move forward, including the CDMRP and the CDC ME/CFS program. In a challenging funding environment, that persistence truly mattered.
- With your support, we launched the Catalyst Awards on World ME Day this year, naming Akiko Iwasaki and later Simmaron Research as our inaugural awardees. These awards provide targeted support to help strong, promising research move faster toward its next phase and broader impact across ME/CFS and Long Covid.
What gives me the most hope right now is not just what we accomplished this year, but what it made possible. The work you supported in 2025 laid the groundwork for some of the most important next steps Solve M.E. has ever taken. In the year ahead, we’ll be sharing major announcements that build directly on this progress; deeper research impacts, stronger collaboration across the field, and movement toward answers this community has been waiting far too long to see.
If you’re able, I hope you’ll consider making an end-of-year gift to Solve M.E. during this $321,000 matching challenge. Your support isn’t abstract; it drives the work you see reflected here and helps ensure that this momentum doesn’t slow down as we head into a new year.
More than anything, thank you for being part of this community, and for continuing to show up even when the road is long.
Together, I look forward to celebrating even more success with you next year.
All the best,
Emily Taylor
President & CEO
Solve M.E.
