Dr Maria PedersenClinician

Biography

Dr Maria Pedersen is a Senior Consultant Physician (Overlege) affiliated with the Norwegian National Advisory Unit for CFS/ME at Oslo University Hospital and the Institute of Clinical Medicine at the University of Oslo. She completed her PhD in 2019 at the University of Oslo on chronic fatigue and chronic fatigue syndrome following acute Epstein-Barr virus infection in adolescents. Her research spans post-infectious fatigue in young people, long COVID, and ME/CFS, including work on the LoTECA cohort study of adolescents with SARS-CoV-2 infection. She is known for arguing, including in a contested 2025 BMJ article co-authored with UK and international clinicians, that patients with severe ME/CFS can recover and require multidisciplinary hope-centred care. Her work and public statements on ME/CFS treatment have drawn substantial debate in the UK and internationally.

References

1. 1.Public Defence: Maria Pedersen – Pediatrics, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo — Confirms Maria Pedersen's PhD (2019) at University of Oslo, Institute of Clinical Medicine, and the subject of her doctoral thesis on chronic fatigue and EBV in adolescents.
2. 2.Patients with severe ME/CFS need hope and expert multidisciplinary care. BMJ. 2025 May 14;389:r977. — Confirms her affiliation as 'Oslo University Hospital and University of Oslo, Norwegian National Advisory Unit for CFS/ME, Norway' — the exact press description — and her co-authorship of this widely cited and debated BMJ article.
3. 3.Dispute over Norwegian ME study: What does it actually show? – Science Norway — Identifies Maria Pedersen as 'a physician at Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet' associated with the Norwegian National Advisory Unit on CFS/ME, and quotes her directly in English-language press coverage on ME/CFS treatment evidence.
4. 4.CFS/ME fagdager for ergoterapeuter – Oslo universitetssykehus HF

Expertise

Cited on

• Hospital discharge / bed-blocking

Stated areas of expertise

• ME/CFS and post-infectious fatigue
• Long COVID in young people
• Epstein-Barr virus and chronic fatigue
• Paediatric and adolescent medicine
• Fatigue rehabilitation and treatment
• Bio-psychosocial models of chronic illness

Notable achievements

• Awarded PhD (2019, University of Oslo) for thesis on chronic fatigue and CFS following acute EBV infection in adolescents, based on the CEBA prospective cohort study of 200 adolescents. Source ↗
• Co-authored 'Patients with severe ME/CFS need hope and expert multidisciplinary care' in The BMJ (May 2025), listed as affiliated with Oslo University Hospital and University of Oslo, Norwegian National Advisory Unit for CFS/ME. Source ↗
• Named co-author on 'Chronic fatigue syndromes: real illnesses that people can recover from', published in Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care (2023), representing the Oslo Chronic Fatigue Consortium. Source ↗
• Contributed as author on 'Predictors of fatigue progression in long COVID among young people' (2025), part of the LoTECA cohort study at Oslo University Hospital and University of Oslo. Source ↗

What they’ve said

• “Approaches that work for many are based on knowledge of how the brain, thoughts, feelings and activities interact.”

  Oslo University Hospital and University of Oslo · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Failed by the NHS on chronic fatigue illness | Letters ↗

Source references

1. Failed by the NHS on chronic fatigue illness | Letterstheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026

Contact & links

• Staff pagehttps://www.med.uio.no/klinmed/english/people/aca/marpeder/
• Websitehttps://www.oslo-universitetssykehus.no/fag-og-forskning/nasjonale-og-regionale-tjenester/nasjonal-kompetansetjeneste-for-cfsme/vare-ansatte/

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