Reflections from the Deputy Director of the HHS Office of Long COVID Research and Practice

By: Allison O’Donnell, Deputy Director, Office of Long COVID Research and Practice, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Department of Health and Human Services

Summary: Reflections from the Deputy Director of the HHS Office of Long COVID Research and Practice

Every day I receive e-mails from people with Long COVID desperate for help. I have friends, family, and colleagues who have Long COVID or similar conditions. My mother has lived with POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome) for over a decade-it often dictates what we can and cannot do as a family. I personally know what it feels like for a medical diagnosis to suddenly upend one’s life for an undetermined amount of time.

I have been doing...