Whereas the Health and Medicine Division of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (referred to in this preamble as HMD ), formerly known as the Institute of Medicine, has found Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (referred to in this preamble as ME/CFS ) to be a serious, chronic, complex, and systemic disease that frequently and dramatically limits the activities of affected patients ; Whereas between 836,000 and 2,500,000 individuals of all ages, races, and sexes in the United States are believed to be afflicted with ME/CFS, with millions more afflicted by ME/CFS worldwide, and the vast majority of individuals with ME/CFS are undiagnosed or misdiagnosed; Whereas ME/CFS is approximately 4 times more prevalent in women than in men; Whereas ME/CFS is a chronic disease that persists for decades and leaves 1/4 of individuals with ME/CFS housebound or bedbound, often for years; Whereas 50 to 75 percent of individuals with ME/CFS cannot work or attend school; Whereas medical expenses and lost productivity related to ME/CFS cost the economy of the United States $17,000,000,000 to $24,000,000,000 annually; Whereas the cause of ME/CFS is unknown, there is no diagnostic test for ME/CFS, and there is no treatment for ME/CFS that is approved by the Food and Drug Administration; Whereas HMD has noted a paucity of research on ME/CFS and that more research is essential ; Whereas individuals with ME/CFS struggle to find doctors who are willing and able to care for them and ME/CFS is included in less than 1/3 of medical curricula