Dr. Michael A. Strober, Distinguished Professor Emeritus and pioneer in eating disorders and bipolar disorder research and treatment, passed away on 5 September 2024 at age 75.
Dr. Strober, a clinical psychologist, retired in March of 2024 after 48 years on the faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles where he was Resnick Endowed Professor of Eating Disorders, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Director of the UCLA Eating Disorders Program in the Geffen School of Medicine. His illustrious career was multi-fold: esteemed researcher, eloquent writer, uniquely gifted clinician, and shaper of the field in his role of Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Eating Disorders from 1983 until 2012. His loss is devastating to his family and friends, the academic community, and patients and families whose lives he has touched profoundly. A unique blend of compassion and orneriness, Dr. Michael Strober is irreplaceable and inimitable.
His death was caused by a rapidly progressing and unyielding glioblastoma that failed to respect the brain of the finest thinker ever to work in the field of eating disorders.
Michael moved to Los Angeles in 1974 to complete his clinical psychology internship at UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, nearly a decade before Karen Carpenter’s death opened the world’s eyes to the lethality of anorexia nervosa. As early as 1977, he began delving into the psychology of young people with anorexia nervosa. Throughout his career he explored topics as varied as object relations, body image, neuroscience, and genetics—using every available tool to decode the complex and perplexing illness that robbed so many parents of their children and so many patients of their former selves. His work transformed our understanding of eating disorders.
Dr. Strober broke through glass ceilings by not even acknowledging them. At a time when directing inpatient psychiatric units was typically the province of psychiatrists, Dr. Strober ascended to the position and served as the Director of the UCLA Eating Disorders Program until his retirement in 2024. His leadership paved the way for other clinical psychologists to direct inpatient programs and was testimony to the centrality of psychologists in the successful treatment of eating disorders.
Dr. Strober was also well-known for his research on pediatric-onset bipolar disorder. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, with Gabrielle Carlson, MD, Dr. Strober conducted one of the first longitudinal studies of adolescents with the bipolar syndrome. He showed that teens with major depression were more likely to “convert” to bipolar disorder with mania if they had rapid onsets of depression, psychomotor retardation, and psychosis; family pedigrees characterized by bipolar disorder in three successive generations; and evidence of hypomania induced by antidepressant medications. At UCLA, Dr Strober managed one of the three sites of the large-scale Course and Outcome of Bipolar Youth (COBY) study. The COBY study has been one of the most informative concerning the course of bipolar disorder among children and teens with subthreshold mania or hypomania.
In meetings, Dr. Strober was rarely the first to speak, but it was always obvious that he was listening and processing intensely—often standing in the back of the room in his trademark uniform of jeans and a crew-neck sweater, he just quietly took it all in. Then with a single, carefully worded and laser focused sentence, he encapsulated the essence of the discussion or conversely eviscerated a conclusion with a perfectly crafted science-based counter-argument—confidently and without rancor. He demonstrated extraordinary intellectual clarity and was exacting with his own prose, and as an editor and mentor, with that of others. His wry sense of humor was legendary.
His remarkable ability to listen deeply, process, distill, and eloquently summarize was at the core of his skill as a clinician and a researcher. His transparency and unwavering directness were both refreshing and essential to youth whose discerning antennae can cut through any pretense. He advocated fiercely for his patients. He gave a voice to patients whose voices had been silenced by eating disorders. He saved countless lives. When patients openly shared thoughts and feelings that were confusing and hard to make sense of, his careful listening and articulate rephrasing brought clarity to their inner confusion.
Dr. Strober’s accomplishments were recognized by the National Eating Disorders Association Award for Excellence in Research in 2005, and the Academy for Eating Disorders Award for Excellence in Teaching and Education in 2005 and Award for Distinguished Service in 2012. He authored over 250 scientific articles and book chapters and was a Founding Fellow of both the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology and the Academy for Eating Disorders. He was also a founding member and past President of the Eating Disorders Research Society.
In 2005, Dr. Strober penned “Just a Little Too Thin: How to Pull Your Child Back from the Brink of an Eating Disorder” to help parents distinguish between transient dieting or weight loss and dangerous preoccupations with eating and body weight that could spiral into a life-threatening eating disorder. A description of his book that is equally applicable today as “invaluable aid for parents intent on keeping their children emotionally and physically healthy in a world of unprecedented pressures.”
Born 22 February 1949 in Manhattan New York to Emanuel and Joan Strober, Michael lived with his family in Morningside Heights until the age of 5 when they moved to Queens. By the time he was 12, Michael began taking the bus into Manhattan by himself, spending Saturdays at the Museum of Natural History and walking down to 6th Avenue in Greenwich Village to watch the older boys play basketball. He had fond memories of eating coconut cream pie in the Grand Central Station cafeteria. By the 7th grade, Michael was sure he wanted to be a psychologist. But the path to do so wasn’t easy.
Michael drove a cab in NYC to pay his way through Queens College, City University of New York. He arrived at the taxi garage in Long Island City at 4am to pick up his cab, crossed the street to the doughnut stand for coffee and two sugar doughnuts, then drove through the streets of Manhattan in the dark, eating his doughnuts, waiting for the sun to rise and the day to begin. Supported by the money he made driving a cab, he graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a BA in Psychology from Queens and went on complete a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Pittsburgh in 1975.
He leaves behind his beloved wife of 22 years, Vivienne, daughters Nicole Lauren and Meredith Ellen Strober, brother Larry Strober, sister Lori Strober Lewin and her husband Claude, 3 nephews and his beloved dog Augustus.
Vivienne wishes to thank Dr. Strober's medical team, his friends, colleagues and her family for their compassion and dedication during this difficult time.