Careers in Eating Disorders: Exploring Options Beyond Psychology

When:  Dec 6, 2022 from 12:00 to 13:00 (ET)

**This event is sponsored by the Early Career and Epidemiology/Public Health SIGS. Please join one of these SIGs to register for the event.**

Individuals interested in pursuing a career in eating disorders have a plethora of differing fields to choose from—psychology, nutrition, nursing, medicine, neuroscience, public health, advocacy, among others! However, most existing resources for supporting prospective students in their professional development have been skewed toward paths in psychology. In response, the Early Career SIG and the Epidemiology/Public Health SIGs have partnered to offer an informational, multi-disciplinary panel focused on providing information to trainees regarding pursuing careers in eating disorders in public health/advocacy, nursing, neuroscience, and clinical nutrition. This panel is also relevant to and important for psychologists and clinical providers, as it will provide valuable information regarding a more comprehensive understanding of career options in the field that is necessary for optimal advisement of trainees.



Speakers: 

  • Kelley Borton, PhD, MPH, RDN (Nutritional Sciences) is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Nutrition at Oakland University. Her research focuses on how weight and nutrition are discussed in the media, and relationships to eating behaviors that promote health, as well as unintended consequences such as disordered eating and weight stigma. Her other research interests include the best use of weight-inclusive nutrition approaches when treating nutrition related diseases, group nutrition interventions for the prevention and treatment of disordered eating, and best practices in educating and training dietitians.

  • Allegra Gordon, PhD (Epidemiology) is a social epidemiologist who uses quantitative and qualitative research methods to understand the mental and physical health impacts of discrimination as well as the effects of gender norms and stereotypes on the health of young people across sexual orientations and gender identities. Allegra has worked in the field of LGBTQ health for nearly 20 years, first as a sexuality educator and HIV counselor and then in program evaluation and community health research. She earned her doctorate in Social & Behavioral Sciences with a concentration in Women, Gender, and Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She holds an MPH in Sociomedical Sciences with a concentration in Sexuality and Health from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and a BA in Education and Environmental Studies from Swarthmore College. Current projects examine: the relationship between gender expression and health behaviors among U.S. adolescents; the effects of the social and policy environment on substance use and health-related quality of life among three generations of sexual minorities; the links between body image, intimate relationships, and sexual health among transgender and non-binary young adults; and the impacts of weight stigma and other eating disorders risk factors on sexual and gender minority populations.

  • Meredith Kells, PhD (Nursing) is a pediatric nurse practitioner with 15 years of experience treating adolescents and young adults with eating disorders in inpatient and ambulatory medical settings. Following her PhD, she completed a two-year post-doctoral fellowship in the NIMH funded Midwest Regional Postdoctoral Training Grant in Eating Disorders Research at the University of Chicago.  Her area of research focus is on improving evidence-based interventions during nutritional rehabilitation for individuals with eating disorders, with particular interest in complications and symptoms experienced during inpatient medical hospitalization.  She is currently an Assistant Professor of Nursing at University of Rochester School of Nursing.

  • Caitlin Lloyd, PhD: Columbia University (Neuroscience) is a NIMH T32 postdoctoral research fellow at the Eating Disorders Research Unit of Columbia University Medical Center. Caitlin began her academic career at the University of Leicester in England, where she completed an undergraduate degree in Psychology. Caitlin worked in the insurance industry for three years prior to starting a graduate Masters and PhD programme in Health and Wellbeing at the University of Bristol, England. Her PhD research focused on the mechanisms underlying the association between anorexia nervosa and anxiety disorders, and she used a variety of epidemiological approaches (instrumental variable analysis, longitudinal data analysis) and data (questionnaire, anthropometric, genetic) to complete her analyses. During her PhD Caitlin completed several overseas placements with Dr Joanna Steinglass at the Columbia Center for Eating Disorders, which augmented her desire to complete brain-based research probing illness mechanisms in anorexia nervosa. During her postdoctoral training she learnt structural and functional brain imaging analysis techniques and obtained further statistical expertise through the analysis of large datasets. Her work now focuses on understanding the neural mechanisms of anxiety and avoidance in anorexia nervosa, using methods from cognitive and computational neuroscience. In particular, she applies a variety of statistical approaches to behavioral, hormonal and brain imaging data to learn more about the biological processes contributing to restrictive eating. Caitlin is currently hoping to understand more about the role of memory and prospection.

  • Amanda Raffoul, PhD (Public Health)is a an Instructor of Pediatrics and a postdoctoral fellow with the Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders (STRIPED) at Boston Children’s Hospital. She received her MSc and PhD from the University of Waterloo School of Public Health Sciences, where her research focused on the unintended consequences of weight and nutrition policies (such as calorie labelling) on disordered eating. Her mixed methods research explores policy avenues for the prevention of eating disorders, ranging from bolstering clinician education for early intervention to strengthening and advocating for public health legislation. She is also actively involved in public health and legislative advocacy through STRIPED and the Academy of Eating Disorders.

Moderators:

  • Erin E. Reilly, PhD 
  • Sam Hahn, PhD, MPH, RD 
  • Ariel Beccia, PhD