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Congressional Briefing June 29, 2005, 3:30-5:00 p.m. Hart Senate Office Building, Room 902 Free. Open to the public.

 

Schools, Students, Obesity and Eating Disorders           Invitation Featured Speakers

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY)  spoke for 20 minutes about the importance of treating eating disorders.

An Invitation to Learn About Eating Disorders and Public Policy

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY) invites you to an informative policy briefing, Schools, Students, Obesity and Eating Disorders. The briefing is Wednesday, June 29, 3:30-5:00 p.m., in the Hart Senate Office Building, Room 902, and is coordinated by the Eating Disorders Coalition for Research, Policy & Action.

 

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Featured Speakers

L. to r: Dr. Margo Maine, Karen Scherr, Dr. Ira Sacker, Dr. Jeanine Cogan, Dr. Bryn Austin

 

Speaker Biographies

Ira Sacker, M.D. Students Dying To Be Thin Ira M. Sacker, M.D. is an acknowledged expert in the field of eating disorders. He is author of Dying To Be Thin and founder and president of HEED (Helping End Eating Disorders) a program with offices in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Upstate New York, and Long Island. Karen Scherr Hey, Wasn't I Supposed to be the Valedictorian? Click above to read her presentation. Karen Scherr graduated from Kingwood High School in 2005 as Honorary Valedictorian.  She was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa in her sophomore year and subsequent hospitalization and inpatient treatment caused her to miss the first six weeks of her junior year.  Due to a school policy, she was unable to be valedictorian despite her number-one class ranking.  She has been in the recovery process for two years now and hopes to increase awareness of the seriousness of eating disorders and encourage their prevention by sharing her experience with others. She will participate in a joint program between New England Conservatory and Tufts beginning this fall, where she plans to major in vocal performance and biopsychology. Karen will share her story about the trade-offs between scholastic performance and treatment. Read more online now at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7884243/. (Photo by MSNBC) S. Bryn Austin, ScD Balancing Obesity, Eating Disorders, and Physical Activity S. Bryn Austin, ScD, is Director of Fellowship Research Training in the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Children’s Hospital in Boston. She is also Assistant Professor in Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Assistant Professor in Society, Human Development, and Health at the Harvard School of Public Health. Her primary research is in the behavioral sciences and social epidemiology, addressing social and physical environmental influences on eating disorders, physical activity, and nutritional behaviors in school and community settings. In addition, her research interests include media and health communications and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender adolescent health. She received her doctorate from the Department of Health and Social Behavior at the Harvard School of Public Health. Her research on eating disorders, nutrition, and the environment includes work with the Planet Health study, a school-based intervention study to promote healthful nutrition and physical activity and reduce overweight; the Growing Up Today Study, a national prospective cohort study of over 16,000 adolescents; and the National Eating Disorders Screening Program, a screening initiative conducted in over 100 high schools nationwide to promote early identification and treatment for adolescents with eating disorder symptoms. Margo Maine, Ph.D. Moderator Dr. Maine, co-founder of the Maine & Weinstein Specialty Group, is a clinical psychologist who has specialized in the treatment of eating disorders for over 20 years and serves as the Consulting Director of Eating Disorders at the Institute of Living in Hartford, Connecticut. Author of two groundbreaking books, Body Wars: Making Peace With Women’s Bodies (2000) and Father Hunger: Fathers, Daughters and Food (1991), she is a senior editor of Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention and board member and past president of Eating Disorders Awareness and Prevention, now the National Eating Disorder Association, and trustee of the Eating Disorder Coalition for Research, Policy and Action. Dr. Maine is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Connecticut, Department of Psychiatry and an adjunct faculty member at the University of Hartford, Graduate Institute of Professional Psychology. As well as sitting on numerous advisory boards, including Dads and Daughters, she has presented at numerous state, national and international conferences on a variety of topics related to the treatment and prevention of eating disorders, women’s health, and associated issues. EDC Staff   Jeanine Cogan, Ph.D. EDC Policy Director Dr. Cogan is a founder of the Eating Disorders Coalition and served as its first executive director. She is a former American Psychological Association Congressional Fellow. In her current role as policy director, Dr. Cogan works to educate members of Congress and other federal policymakers about eating disorders. She joined the EDC in 2000.   Marc Lerro EDC Executive Director Marc Lerro has worked in health education programs since 1981. He has also worked on local, state, and national political campaigns. He has directed programs on mental retardation, seizure disorders, cancer, HIV/AIDS, and services for the elderly. He joined the EDC in 2002.

 

We thank our U.S. Senate sponsor for this briefing, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton

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