Research Training Day 2021

Abstract

We will first review current screening questions for EDs and then examine what research has been done on screening in primary care settings for ED, and the key hurdles identified. We look at the case of Australia, and the issues that make this important for accessing and funding of eating disorder services. We will also look at what has been done in general mental health that we can learn from. We encourage attendees to look at the IJED’s special call for papers on issues related to how to embed screening across a broad range of settings and submit expressions of interest for an IJED Special Issue on Screening for Eating Disorders to be published the second half of 2022. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/1098108x/homepage/eating-disorders-cfp

Learning Objectives

• Identify major methodological approaches to screening for eating disorders.
• Learn about key research findings on screening for eating disorders and what gaps remain to be addressed.
• Identify key hurdles to screening for eating disorders and practical solutions to overcoming such hurdles.

Brief Speaker Biographies

Phillipa Hay, PhD, is Professor and Chair of Mental Health at Western Sydney University, Australia. Her research focuses on reducing the personal and public health burden of eating disorders and obesity. She has over 200 peer reviewed publications, written and co-edited several books, and has won several awards, notably the 2015 Australian and New Zealand Academy Lifetime Achievement award. In 2013 she was elected Fellow of the international Academy for Eating Disorders. She is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the first online journal in her research area Journal of Eating Disorders.  She is a past-President of the Australian Academy for Eating Disorders. Professor Hay is committed to research that results in a better understanding of eating disorders to reduce the individual, family and community burden. Her current research focuses on randomized controlled trials of interventions for anorexia nervosa and other eating disorders, as well as public health and community interventions that will reduce barriers to accessing care. She led the working group for the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists national guidelines for eating disorder treatments. 

Other studies have explored the diagnostic status of disordered eating behaviors and eating disorder mental health literacy in the community, clinical and professional samples. She is a principal reviewer and writer of systematic reviews internationally in the field of eating disorders for the highly-regarded Cochrane Library and Clinical Evidence. This work led to selection of a review for publication in the British Medical Journal. She has also received recognition through being invited to submit articles and commentaries to Australasian and International journals, publications and books. 

Tracey Wade, PhD, is Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Director of the Orama Institute for Mental Health and Wellbeing, at Flinders University, Australia. Her current research interests are in the etiology, prevention and treatment of eating disorders, with a focus on implementing this research into real world settings to improve outcomes in body image and eating disorders. She has cowritten 3 therapy books and has over 200 publications in peer reviewed journals. In 2015 she was elected a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. In 2016 she was made an Inaugural Honorary Fellow of the Australian Association for Cognitive and Behaviour Therapy. In 2017-18 she was the president of the Eating Disorder Research Society, and in 2018-2020 she was a member of the Million Minds Expert Advisory Panel. In 2019 she was appointed Fellow of the APS, and is currently an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Eating Disorders. She is the director of the Flinders University Services for Eating Disorders (FUSED) and the Blackbird Research Initiative. Professor Wade is a member of the National Eating Disorders Collaboration steering committee commissioned by the Federal Government to inform policy development in the area of eating disorder prevention and treatment, and a member of the Eating Disorders Technical Advisory Committee, advising the Federal Department of Health on matters related to eating disorders.

Abstract

Over the past decade, psychological science has undergone a revolution to embrace and advance open science practices that enhance the rigor, transparency, and reproducibility of research. While such methods are becoming the norm across social, cognitive, and developmental psychology, clinical psychology (including the eating disorders field) has lagged more slowly behind. In this workshop, we will first present a pragmatic overview of open science practices with an emphasis on highlighting resources and examples from relevant fields for developing, sharing, and publishing open science research.  Next, we will provide in-depth discussions of pre-registration, sharing data and code, and sharing open materials (measures, protocols, tasks, etc.). We will pay particular attention to issues relevant for the eating disorders field (e.g., pre-registering secondary data analyses, sharing clinically-relevant data).  We will conclude with a discussion of methodologies and relevant empirical questions that remain about open science, with the goal of stimulating both the use and study of open science methods and their impact on the field.  Attendees will also learn about an anticipated call for Special Issue papers on Open Science for eating disorders.     

Speakers & Topics

Shirley Wang, AM, Harvard University. Outline primary open science domains and provide examples of pre-registration (including for archived data), open data and code, and open materials in clinical science. 

Tom Hildebrandt, PsyD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.  Outline primary open science domains and provide examples of pre-registration, sharing data and code, and open materials for clinical trials and discuss methods and opportunities for studying open science.  

Learning Objectives

1. Understand the value of pre-registration, know how to preregister new studies and secondary data analyses, and identify resources and platforms for pre-registration. 
2. Describe different ways to share data and the pros and cons of these data sharing options.
3. List some key sources of archived and open data sources for eating disorder researchers.

Brief Speaker Biographies

Shirley Wang, A.M. is a PhD candidate in clinical psychology with a secondary in computational science and engineering at Harvard University. She has been funded by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and an NIMH F31/NRSA predoctoral fellowship. Shirley’s research examines why people engage in behaviors that are harmful to themselves, including eating disorder behaviors, nonsuicidal self-injury, and suicide. She is particularly interested in mathematical and computational modeling to formalize theories in psychopathology. This work has been published in over 30 scientific papers and recognized through several awards, including the 2020 Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology Outstanding Student Researcher Award, 2019 Society for Research on Psychopathology President’s Award, and 2018 APA Early Graduate Student Researcher Award. Shirley serves on the editorial board for several journals, including the International Journal of Eating Disorders.

Tom Hildebrandt, PsyD is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Chief of the Center of Excellence in Eating and Weight Disorders at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Director of the Hilda and Preston Davis Living Laboratory at Mount Sinai. He completed his graduate training at Rutgers University and Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and has been continuously funded by National Institutes of Health and Department of Defense for 14 years to study eating, substance use, and trauma related pathology.  He is a statistical board reviewer for several journals, including International Journal of Eating Disorders and Fellow of the AED.  His primary research interests include mechanistic evaluation and development of novel treatments for eating disorders, biological and social bases of sex differences in body image, eating, and drug and alcohol use, and application of technology to scaling treatment for eating disorders.

Abstract

Despite the common view of science as an objective and impartial process, racial bias and racism affect research in any field at every step of the way—from conceptualizing study ideas to reporting findings to participating in peer review—and the field of eating disorders is no exception.

In this webinar, three journal editors will discuss how we as a field can do better in formulating research questions or hypotheses, data collection, data reporting, data interpretation, reviewing, and editing, to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion and challenge systematic racism in eating disorders research.

First, Dr. Jennifer Thomas will provide a brief introduction to the topic and share active steps that the International Journal of Eating Disorders is taking to reduce the impact of racial bias in published papers. Second, Dr. Natasha Burke will discuss how intersectionality‐informed approaches, which examine the ways in which one's multiple social identities interact to inform one’s worldview, offer an established framework for identifying frequently underserved individuals who may be at greatest risk for eating disorders, and may impact how research is conducted and reported. Third, Dr. Marisol Perez will describe actionable strategies that investigators, reviewers, and editors can take to upend racism in how our research is conducted, reported, reviewed, and disseminated. Finally, we will end with an interactive question and answer session with the audience, and welcome ideas from participants on how we as a field can continue to challenge ourselves and one another to do better.

Speakers and Topics

1. Jennifer J. Thomas, PhD, Associate Editor, International Journal of Eating Disorders — Introduction (5 mins)
2. Natasha L. Burke, PhD, Editorial Board Member and Incoming Associate Editor, International Journal of Eating Disorders — “Where identities converge: The importance of intersectionality in eating disorders research” (15 mins)
3. Marisol Perez, PhD, Editorial Board Member, International Journal of Eating Disorders; Editor, Clinician’s Research Digest — "Upending Racism in Psychological Science: Strategies to Change How Our Science is Conducted, Reported, Reviewed & Disseminated" (15 mins)
4. Q&A with audience and panel discussion (15 mins)

Learning Objectives

1. Understand the importance of intersectionality in eating disorders research
2. Identity the ways in which racism affects how science in the eating disorders field is conducted, reported, reviewed, and disseminated
3. Learn strategies for reducing the impact of racism and promoting diversity and inclusion when conducting research, disseminating findings, and participating in peer review

Brief Speaker Biographies

Natasha L. Burke, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Fordham University, Bronx, NY, USA. Her research program makes inroads into eating- and weight-related disparities by addressing measurement, models, and interventions for multiply marginalized children, adolescents, and emerging adults. Her interests include the complex interplay among weight status, sociodemographic characteristics, psychological comorbidities, and associated risk factors. Given the persistence of significant eating- and weight-related health disparities, her goal is to continue to inform research and interventions in racial/ethnic minority and economically disadvantaged populations. Her current research focuses on elucidating eating disorder risk in food insecure children and adolescents, applying the lens of intersectionality theory to eating disorder risk in marginalized populations, and addressing eating disorder measurement and models in racial/ethnic minority populations.

Marisol Perez, PhD, is an Associate professor in the Department of Psychology at Arizona State University, Co-Director of Clinical Training, and President-Elect of the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology. Her program of research explores the genetic, biological, psychophysiological, cultural, and environmental underpinnings of body image and eating behavior in its development towards unhealthy lifestyles. She continuously translates basic science research into clinical applications that can improve the health and quality of life of people across the lifespan. Her research often focuses on Latine/Latinx individuals as well as other racial and ethnic minorities. Her research is currently funded by National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities, and Dove Self Esteem Project. She currently serves on the Board of the Academy for Eating Disorders as Treasurer, and is Editor for Clinician's Research Digest. 

Jennifer J. Thomas, Ph.D. is the Co-director of the Eating Disorders Clinical and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, and an Associate Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Thomas’s research focuses on avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder and other atypical eating disorders, as described in her books Almost Anorexic: Is My (or My Loved One’s) Relationship with Food a Problem?; Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder: Children, Adolescents, and Adults; and The Picky Eater’s Recovery Book: Overcoming Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder. She is currently principal investigator on several studies investigating the neurobiology and treatment of avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, funded by the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health and private foundations.  She is the author or co-author of more than 140 scientific publications. She also serves as Secretary for the Academy for Eating Disorders and Associate Editor for the International Journal of Eating Disorders.

Abstract

The live webinar will describe strategies for forging and maintaining effective international collaborations. As a springboard for discussion, we will feature three groups of authors who contributed to the recently published Special Issue of the International Journal on Eating Disorders on Eating Disorders Research in Asia and whose research illustrates the success of their collaboration with colleagues across countries. Speakers also will share lessons learned from the formation and work of the Eating Disorders Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC-ED) which leads the global effort to identify actionable genomic variation in eating disorders. Webinar attendees are encouraged to submit questions to the panel during the broadcast, with the facilitated discussion focusing on strategies for developing and maintaining international collaborations.

Speakers & Topics

• Ruth S. Weissman Welcoming remarks
• Jennifer J. Thomas Introduction
• Sook Ning Chua (Singapore) & Ellen Fitzsimmons-Craft (USA) Collaborating on a study of the Prevalence of eating disorders in Singapore
• Neha Reza (Iran) Finding and collaborating with limited local resources—a brief personal testimonial
• Cynthia Bulik (Sweden/USA) & Lauren Thornton (USA) Growing a Global Consortium: Respecting Cultures, Laws, and Time Zones
• Jennifer J. Thomas, Panel Discussion

Learning Objectives

• Learn about key findings from research presented in a recently published special issue on eating disorders in Asia.
• Learn about strategies for forging and maintaining international collaborations from the leader of the largest global collaborative in the eating disorder field.
• Identify key hurdles to working with colleagues from a different country and how to overcome them.

Brief Speaker Biographies

Cynthia Bulik, PhD, is Distinguished Professor of Eating Disorders and Founding Director of the UNC Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders; Professor of Nutrition, Gillings School of Global Public Health; and Associate Director, UNC Center for Psychiatric Genomics, Chapel Hill, USA. She is Professor of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. Her research teams at UNC and Karolinska Institutet (Centre for Eating Disorders Innovation-CEDI) are dedicated to deepening our understanding of the underlying biology and genetics of eating disorders and to advancing the evidence base for the treatment of these illnesses. As founder and co-chair of the Eating Disorders Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC-ED), she leads the global effort to identify actionable genomic variation in eating disorders. She is Principal Investigator of the global Eating Disorders Genetics Initiative (EDGI) funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. Together with Ian Carroll, PhD, she conducts population-level and intensive longitudinal clinical investigations of the intestinal microbiota in eating disorders. For the past decade, with Donald Baucom, PhD and Jennifer Kirby, PhD, she has developed and disseminated a suite of couple-based interventions for anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder. She also serves as senior faculty on the SAMHSA-funded National Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders (NCEED)—the national authoritative source for information and training in eating disorders. She is dedicated to mentorship of junior investigators, especially women in STEM fields and is passionate about translating science for the public.

Sook Ning Chua, PhD is a clinical psychologist and a senior research fellow at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her primary area of research focuses on motivation, self-regulation, need satisfaction and well-being in the context of social relationships. Dr. Chua is the founder of Relate Malaysia – a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the provision of mental health services, education, training and advocacy since 2015. As a clinical psychologist, international researcher and educator, Dr. Chua has an extensive body of research publications and has shared her expertise across a wide range of subjects at conferences worldwide, from Singapore to the Netherlands and Canada. Her research interests include motivation, self-regulation, and mental health interventions. Dr. Chua is a Visiting Scholar with STRIPED at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health where she collaborates on a research projects including estimating prevalence of eating disorders in Singapore and Malaysia, and disordered weight control behaviors, cosmetic surgery and use of skin lightening products in Asia. Dr. Chua is recognized as a driven and determined thought leader in psychology throughout Southeast Asia, motivated by a desire to raise the standard of mental health on an individual, organizational, and societal level.

Ellen Fitzsimmons-Craft, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA and a licensed clinical psychologist. She has established programmatic lines of research centering on the use of Internet and technology for eating disorder prevention and treatment, eating disorder screening, sociocultural etiological and maintenance factors for eating disorders, and eating disorder recovery. Ultimately Dr. Fitzsimmons-Craft’s work aims to disseminate evidence-based interventions from research to practice as well as extend treatments in ways that will reach the large number of people in need of care for mental health problems but who are not receiving services. She is a Fellow in the Academy for Eating Disorders, is a current recipient of a National Institute of Mental Health K08 Career Development Award, and has authored more than 90 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Fitzsimmons-Craft is passionate about increasing access to scalable, evidence-based mental health services, collaborating with numerous non-profit organizations, including the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) and the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD), and statewide groups in the U.S. in order to do so.

Laura Thornton, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UNC and is the Deputy Director of the Eating Disorders Genetics Initiative (EDGI). She has over 20 years of experience in survey design, data collection and management, analysis, and dissemination of findings of large-scale epidemiologic and community-based research and as an international eating disorders research coordinator. Dr. Thornton’s research focus includes evaluation of genetic factors influencing liability to and examining phenotypic aspects of eating disorders and obesity. Identifying and understanding risk factors for disordered eating and full-threshold eating disorders will aid in prevention, detection, and treatment efforts, eventually ameliorating the effects of these devastating illnesses. She is committed to advancing our understanding of all aspects of disordered eating from both an etiological and developmental perspective.

Jennifer J. Thomas, PhD is the Co-director of the Eating Disorders Clinical and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, and an Associate Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Thomas’s research focuses on avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder and other atypical eating disorders, as described in her books Almost Anorexic: Is My (or My Loved One’s) Relationship with Food a Problem?; Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder: Children, Adolescents, and Adults; and The Picky Eater’s Recovery Book: Overcoming Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder. She is currently principal investigator on several studies investigating the neurobiology and treatment of avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, funded by the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health and private foundations.  She is the author or co-author of more than 140 scientific publications. She also serves as Secretary for the Academy for Eating Disorders and Associate Editor for the International Journal of Eating Disorders.

Ruth Striegel Weissman, PhD, is Professor of Psychology and Walter A. Crowell University Professor of the Social Sciences, Emerita, at Wesleyan University. Her research focuses on reducing the burden of suffering associated with eating and weight problems. Dr. Weissman’s studies have included work on defining and classifying eating disorders, identifying risk factors for the development of eating and weight disorders, treatment effectiveness, and health services utilization and costs related to obesity, binge eating, and eating disorders. Her research has been generously funded by National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Disease (NIDDK), by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and by the American Diabetes Association. Her contributions to the field have been recognized with several awards, including the AED’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Weissman is a founding member and former president of the Academy for Eating Disorder. She also served as president of the Eating Disorders Research Society. Dr. Weissman is Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Eating Disorders. Dr. Weissman cares deeply about mentoring early career scholars and improving equity and inclusion in the academic community.