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Scientists and trainees discuss advancements in eating disorder research.
Posted On: February 22, 2017
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Conference attendee, Danielle MacDonald, Postdoctoral Fellow. Supervisor: Dr. Marion Olmsted, TGHRI.
Conference: Eating Disorder Research Society Annual Meeting, October 27-30, 2016, New York, NY, USA
Conference Highlight: The Eating Disorder Research Society annual meeting is an international conference to discuss and disseminate novel and innovative eating disorder research approaches and findings.
Conference Article: Many interesting talks were presented at the 2016 Eating Disorder Research Society conference in New York, NY. One of the most compelling talks was the keynote address, delivered by Mr. Patrick Kennedy, who is an American politician and an advocate for mental health care reform. In his keynote address, Mr. Kennedy spoke candidly about his own experiences with mental health and addiction, as well as his professional political work sponsoring and lobbying for the Mental Health Parity Act, a bill that sought to require health insurers to consider mental illnesses as equivalent to physical illnesses—therefore providing equivalent coverage for mental health care. Mr. Kennedy’s impassioned speech brought a diverse and welcomed perspective to this scientific meeting, was very well received by the conference attendees, and complemented the rest of the meeting nicely by underscoring the practical importance of scientific research and evidence based practice in mental health care, and the ways in which mental health research can inform policy changes.
The conference also featured innovative symposia focused on a range of topics related to eating disorders and presented by some of the world’s leading experts. Examples of symposia and paper session topics included the following: the global burden of eating disorders; the implementation of evidence based-psychotherapy for eating disorders from science to practice; why we eat what we eat; and other topics of risk, recovery, intervention, and policy related to eating disorders. These presentations highlighted the relationship between science and practice, and the importance of using data-driven, evidence-based approaches to understand the nature and treatment of eating disorders. One of the highlights was the interdisciplinary focus, which allowed researchers from a variety of fields to come together to discuss a broad range of topics relevant to eating disorders.
Conference Highlight: The Eating Disorder Research Society annual meeting is an international conference to discuss and disseminate novel and innovative eating disorder research approaches and findings.
Conference Article: Many interesting talks were presented at the 2016 Eating Disorder Research Society conference in New York, NY. One of the most compelling talks was the keynote address, delivered by Mr. Patrick Kennedy, who is an American politician and an advocate for mental health care reform. In his keynote address, Mr. Kennedy spoke candidly about his own experiences with mental health and addiction, as well as his professional political work sponsoring and lobbying for the Mental Health Parity Act, a bill that sought to require health insurers to consider mental illnesses as equivalent to physical illnesses—therefore providing equivalent coverage for mental health care. Mr. Kennedy’s impassioned speech brought a diverse and welcomed perspective to this scientific meeting, was very well received by the conference attendees, and complemented the rest of the meeting nicely by underscoring the practical importance of scientific research and evidence based practice in mental health care, and the ways in which mental health research can inform policy changes.
The conference also featured innovative symposia focused on a range of topics related to eating disorders and presented by some of the world’s leading experts. Examples of symposia and paper session topics included the following: the global burden of eating disorders; the implementation of evidence based-psychotherapy for eating disorders from science to practice; why we eat what we eat; and other topics of risk, recovery, intervention, and policy related to eating disorders. These presentations highlighted the relationship between science and practice, and the importance of using data-driven, evidence-based approaches to understand the nature and treatment of eating disorders. One of the highlights was the interdisciplinary focus, which allowed researchers from a variety of fields to come together to discuss a broad range of topics relevant to eating disorders.