Eating Disorders and Body Image (EDBI)

Janet Conti (opens in a new window)

Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences and Psychology

Primary interests: Tailoring eating disorder treatment experiences, testing of under-researched treatment interventions for eating disorders

Brooke Donnelly (opens in a new window)

Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology

Primary interests: Eating disorders, Neuroimaging and neurobiology, Emotional responses to food and body image, Gut-brain axis, Online treatments for eating disorders

Rakime Elmir (opens in a new window)

Lecturer, School of Nursing and Midwifery

Primary interests: Women’s experiences of eating disorders in the perinatal period

Nasim Faroughi (opens in a new window)

Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Medicine

Primary interests: Emotional and neural responses to food images in eating disorders

Catharine Fleming (opens in a new window)

Lecturer in Public Health, School of Sciences and Health, THRI

Primary interests: Paediatric feeding behaviours associated with picky/fussy eating and possible long-term health outcomes from these behaviours that manifest in early adolescence and young adulthood

Alex Hawkey (opens in a new window)

Associate Research Fellow, THRI

Primary interests: Eating practices, embodiment and body image across the menstrual cycle and reproductive life stage

Michael Kohn

Professor of Paediatrics & Child Health, School of Medicine

Primary interests: Eating disorders, ADHD, cognitive neuroscience, learning difficulties, and autism

Haider Mannan (opens in a new window)

Senior Lecturer and Biostatistician, School of Medicine

Primary interests: Longitudinal statistical analysis of risk factors of various types of eating disorders, testing of under-researched treatment interventions for eating disorders, statistical approaches for comparison of eating disorders diagnostic schemes, testing of novel biomarkers of eating disorders

Milan Piya (opens in a new window)

Senior Lecturer in Diabetes, THRI, School of Medicine

Primary interests: Eating Disorders in the Context of Severe Obesity

Lucie Ramjan (opens in a new window)

Professor, School of Nursing and Midwifery

Primary interests: Research into novel interventions to support recovery in eating disorders, such as peer mentor support programs

Evelyn Smith (opens in a new window)

Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology in the School of Psychology

Primary interests: Obesity and eating disorders comorbidity, schema therapy for eating disorders, executive function, trauma and obesity/eating disorders, eating disorders in males

Jane Ussher (opens in a new window)

Professor, THRI

Primary interests: Sexual and reproductive embodiment, including premenstrual body dissatisfaction, menopausal embodiment, and embodied experiences of sexuality and gender diverse women

Colleen Alford

PhD Candidate, Thesis: "Understanding and addressing the specific needs of parents/carers of an autistic child or adolescent with an eating disorder: a parent-based adjunct to standard child and adolescent eating disorder treatment."

Adam Burt

Alumni, School of Medicine

Primary interests: eating disorders and related problems in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

Lucy Dahill

PhD Candidate, Thesis: “Words matter. A mixed methods investigation of perceived parental comments on adolescents’ weight, shape, and eating”
Supervisors: Professor Phillipa Hay, Dr Natalie Morrison, Professor Stephen Touyz, Dr Haider Mannan

Sinead Day

PhD Candidate, Thesis: “A clinical evaluation of residential treatment for eating disorders and the impact of trauma on treatment outcomes”
Supervisors: Dr Deborah Mitchison, Professor Phillipa Hay, Associate Professor Kathy Tannous

Scott Fatt

PhD candidate, Thesis: "Understanding disordered eating, body image, and eating disorders in athletes"
Supervisors: Dr Deborah Mitchison, Dr Emma George and Professor Phillipa Hay

Rebekah Rankin

PhD Candidate, Thesis: "Patient and Carer Perception/satisfaction of Care and Lived Experience and Other Heath Care Provider’s Perception/ satisfaction with the First Residential Facility for the Treatment of Eating Disorders in Australia"
Supervisors: Dr Janet Conti, Associate Professor Lucie Ramjan, Professor Phillipa Hay

Samantha Ryan

PhD Candidate, Thesis: "Investigating women’s subjective experiences of embodiment in the premenstrual phase of the cycle in the context of body dissatisfaction"

Yive Yang

PhD Candidate, Thesis: "What is the role and value added of a dietitian in eating disorder treatment"
Supervisors: Professor Phillipa Hay, Associate Professor Janet Conti, Dr Caitlin McMaster, and Associate Professor Milan Piya

Shazna Buksh

PhD Candidate, Thesis: “An examination of the role of eating appropriateness standards and dietary self-regulation in the obesity epidemic in Fiji”

Liz Dale

Conjoint Lecturer, School of Medicine

Primary interests: Indigenous peoples' experiences of feeding and eating disorders, evaluating the cultural utility of mainstream assessment and treatment approaches, Indigenous recovery knowledge.

Mandy Goldstein

Adjunct Fellow, School of Medicine | President-Elect, ANZAED

Primary interests:  Enhancing the effectiveness of treatments for people with eating disorders across the age range and ED diagnostic spectrums; core principles in the treatment of eating disorders; eating disorders and trauma.

Melissa Hart

Conjoint Senior Lecturer, School of Medicine

Primary interests: Eating behaviour and nutrition in people with an eating disorder as well as the role of dietitians in the prevention and treatment of disordered eating

Susan Hart

Conjoint Associate Professor, School of Medicine, Western Sydney University; Director of ENRG (Eating disorders and Nutrition Research Group)

Primary interests: Supporting & evaluating best practice in dietetics and eating disorders; insulin misuse in type 1 diabetes; acute hospital management of eating disorders.

Gabriella Heruc

Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Medicine, Western Sydney University; Accredited Practising Dietitian, Sydney Children’s Hospital Network and Appetite for Change

Primary interests: Blood glucose and appetite regulation in eating disorders, the physiological effects of starvation and changes with refeeding; the role of the dietitian in eating disorder management

Kylie Matthews-Rensch

Adjunct Fellow, School of Medicine

Primary interests: Refeeding syndrome; gastrointestinal function in eating disorders; acute hospital management of patients with eating disorders; patient, carer and staff experience through eating disorder treatment; physiological complications of starvation and changes during acute refeeding

Caitlin McMaster

Adjunct Fellow, School of Medicine

Primary interests: Enhancing the evidence base for outpatient dietetic treatment for individuals with eating disorders, translation of evidence-based dietetic practice into real world clinical practice, improving collaboration between dietitians and members of multi-disciplinary eating disorder treatment teams

Deb Mitchison (opens in a new window)

Associate Professor, Clinical Psychology, University of Technology Sydney, Graduate School of Health, Sydney, Australia

Primary interests: Epidemiology of eating disorders and their symptoms, help-seeking, longitudinal analysis of risk factors and outcomes

Find out more (opens in a new window)

Jon Mond

Adjunct Associate Professor

Primary interests: Assessment of body dissatisfaction and eating-disordered behaviour; health promotion and “health literacy” for eating-disordered behaviour and obesity; medicalisation of body weight, eating and exercise behaviour; biomedical vs social constructionist approaches to mental health problems

Marly Palavras

Primary interests: binge eating and weight management; diagnosis; subjective binge eating; psychological therapy

Katarina Prnjak

Adjunct Researcher, UTS

Kirrilly Pursey

Conjoint Lecturer, School of Medicine

Primary interests: Addictive eating, the intersection of obesity and eating disorders, prevention of disordered eating in children, the role of the dietitian in eating disorder prevention and treatment.

Jay Raman

Primary interests: bench to practice translational research, with a special interest in the psychological and neuropsychological mechanisms that underlie eating behaviours; development of internet-based interventions for those with eating disorders.

Tetyana Rocks

Research fellow, Accredited Practicing Dietitian

Primary interests: exploring relationships between diet and mental and gut health (eating and post-traumatic stress disorders)

Anoop Sankaranarayanan

Conjoint Associate Professor, School of Medicine, THRI

Primary interests: Disordered eating and its association with obesity and metabolic syndrome in schizophrenia

Monica Sekowski

Adjunct Fellow, School of Social Sciences & Psychology, WSU; Eating Disorders Coordinator, South West Sydney Local Health District

Primary interests: body image disorders in adolescent populations, early intervention in atypical anorexia nervosa, treatment of adolescents with anorexia nervosa in community mental health teams

Beth Shelton

Adjunct Fellow, School of Medicine, Western Sydney University; National Director of the National Eating Disorder Collaboration (NEDC); Clinical Psychologist

Primary Interests: As the Director of NEDC, Dr Shelton oversees the synthesis of evidence, expertise and lived experience to develop national standards and workforce initiatives to support nationally consistent approaches to eating disorders. She is interested in the role of movement and embodied experience in evidence-based interventions for disordered eating and body image problems.

Dean Spirou

Conjoint Associate Lecturer, School of Medicine

Primary interests: Psychological mechanisms in adult obesity and weight management, eating disorders, trauma, and schema therapy in obesity.

ASPIRE: Addressing Sporting Pressures on athletes’ body Image and Relationships with Eating and exercise (opens in a new window) (Scott Fatt, Emma George, Phillipa Hay, Deborah Mitchison)

Supporting by an AIS Research Grant and in partnership with Paralympics Australia, we aim to better understand the pressures elite athletes experience in relation to their body, eating, and exercise, whilst aiming for optimal performance. We hope to help athletes ASPIRE to rise above these challenges and achieve their ideal balance between performance and health.

Clinical Evaluation of Wandi Nerida (2021-2024) (Phillipa Hay, Deb Mitchison, Kathy Tannous, Janet Conti, Lucie Ramjan, Sinead Day, Rebekah Rankin)

This project is a partnership with the Butterfly Foundation and will evaluate the outcomes of Australia's first residential eating disorder program, Wandi Nerida. The evaluation is multidimensional and will focus not only on clinical and health economic outcomes, but on the experiences of clients, clinicians and family.

Cognitive Remediation Therapy (CRT) and Behavioural Weight Loss (BWL) for Obesity (Evelyn Smith)

Randomized controlled trial comparing CRT to BWL in individuals with obesity.

EMPOWER (Lucie Ramjan)

A mEntor-Mentee Program fOr young people With Eating disoRders.

EveryBODY Study (Deb Mitchison, Phillipa Hay)

Funded by NHMRC and Ainsworth. Longitudinal investigation of risk factors and burden of eating disorders and associated body image disorders in 5000 Australian adolescents.

fMRI Study (Nasim Foroughi, Phillipa Hay)

Emotions and food study utilising fMRI.

HAPIFED (Phillipa Hay, Haider Mannan, Nasim Foroughi, Milan Piya)

• Funded by Ainsworth MRIF, $45,000

When the honeymoon is over: Investigating moderators and mediators of outcomes in an open trial of a novel psycho-behavioural treatment for relapse prevention and maintenance of weight loss.

Schema Therapy for Eating Disorders (Evelyn Smith)

A group intervention trial.

Schema Therapy for Obesity (Evelyn Smith)

An individual intervention trial.

Obesity and Eating Disorders Comorbidity in the Penrith Area (Evelyn Smith)

Investigation of eating disorders, obesity and trauma in 5000 adults living in Penrith.

The role of parental knowledge, market influences and use of ready-to-use squeezable complementary food pouches on dietary patterns and feeding behaviours in young children 0- 5 years (Catharine Fleming)

This is part of an overall research program that aims to reduce the early development of diet-related chronic disease through early foundation feeding interventions of knowledge, policy and practice in Australia. Specifically focusing on the investigation into the role of parental knowledge, influences and use of ready-to-use of squeezable complementary food pouches as a feeding option in young children.

TrEAT Study (Deb Mitchison, Phillipa Hay, Gabriella Heruc)

Ongoing clinical registry of clients attending eating disorder treatment clinics in Sydney and Perth. Aims are to facilitate research, evaluate government initiatives (e.g., MBS items), and provide quality assurance for the clinics.

Trauma and Obesity/Eating Disorders (Evelyn Smith)

Investigation of a broad range of traumatic experiences among people with eating disorders.

WEHL (Phillipa Hay, Nasim Foroughi)

A longitudinal investigation of women’s eating and health literacy.

Women’s experiences of eating disorders in the perinatal period (Rakime Elmir, Phillipa Hay)

Top Recent Publications

2024

Harris AM, Mannan H, Hay P, Aouad P, Arcelus J, Attia E, Crosby R, Madden S, Meyer C and Touyz S (2024). “Assessment and treatment of compulsive exercise in Anorexia Nervosa – a combined investigation of Compulsive Exercise Activity Therapy (LEAP) and Compulsive Exercise Test subscales”. (opens in a new window) Eating Behaviors, 52. [ranking Q2, Impact Factor 2.936]

2023

M Bray, G Heruc, S Byrne, ORL Wright (2023). Collaborative dietetic and psychological care in Interprofessional Enhanced Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for adults with Anorexia Nervosa: a novel treatment approach. (opens in a new window) Journal of Eating Disorders 11 (1), 1-6.

Clague, C. A., Prnjak, K., & Mitchison, D. (2023). “I don't want them to judge me”: Separating out the role of fear of negative evaluation, neuroticism, and low self-esteem in eating disorders. (opens in a new window) Eating Behaviors, 49, 101708.

Dahill, L. M., Hay, P., Morrison, N. M. V., Touyz, S., Mitchison, D., Bussey, K., & Mannan, H. (2023). Associations between parents' body weight/shape comments and disordered eating amongst adolescents over time—A longitudinal study. (opens in a new window) Nutrients, 15(6), 1419. [IF 6.706, 5-year IF 7.1185, ranking Q1]

Dahill LM, Morrison NMV, Touyz S, Mitchison D, Bussey K, Mannan H, Hay P. An exploration of how adolescents experience and reason their parents' comments on their weight, shape, and eating. (opens in a new window) J Adolesc. 2023 Jul 18. [IF 3.675, ranking Q2]

Mekanna AN, Panchal SK, Li L, Beyond lockdowns: a systematic review of the impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns on dietary pattern, physical activity, body weight, and food security, (opens in a new window) Nutrition Reviews, Volume 81, Issue 7, July 2023, Pages 790–803.

Moraes CEF, Yang Y, Hay P, Appolinario JC. “The non-discriminatory nature of eating disorders: transcending age and weight.” (opens in a new window) Jornal Brasileiro de Psiquiatria, 2023;72(3).

Nasim Foroughi, Phillipa Hay, Haider Mannan. Community women’s lifestyle and eating disorders in the era of COVID-19 pandemic: a 15-year follow-up study. (opens in a new window) Nutrients 2023, 15(7), 1676. [IF 6.706, 5-year IF 7.1185, ranking Q1]

Hay, P., Rankin, R., Ramjan, L., Conti, J. (2023). Current approaches in the recognition and management of eating disorders. (opens in a new window) Medical Journal of Australia, 219(3), 127-134.

Patterson-Norrie, T., Ramjan, L., Sousa, M.S., George, A. (2023). Oral health and individuals with a lived experience of an eating disorder: a qualitative study. (opens in a new window) Journal of Eating Disorders, 11:121.

Rankin, R., Conti, J., Ramjan, L. & Hay, P. (2023). A systematic review of people’s lived experiences of inpatient treatment for anorexia nervosa: Living in a bubble. (opens in a new window) Journal of Eating Disorders, 11, 95.

Rankin, R., Conti, J., Touyz, S., Arcelus, J., Meyer, C., & Hay, P. (2023). Dancing with change: a qualitative exploration of in-session motivation to change in the treatment of anorexia nervosa. (opens in a new window) Australian Psychologist, 58(2), 119-130.

Sakthivel SJ, Hay P, Mannan H. A Scoping Review on the Association between Night Eating Syndrome and Physical Health, Health-Related Quality of Life, Sleep and Weight Status in Adults. (opens in a new window) Nutrients. 2023; 15(12):2791. [IF 6.706, 5-year IF 7.1185, ranking Q1]

Sakthivel SJ, Hay P, Touyz S, Currow D and Mannan H (2023). “Association of Night Eating Syndrome with physical health, sleep problems, and weight status when compared to people with Binge Eating Disorder and Bulimia Nervosa”. (opens in a new window) Eating and Weight Disorders: Studies in Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity, 28:77. [ranking Q1, Impact Factor 4.652]

Yang Y, Conti J, McMaster CM, Piya MK, Hay P. “”I Need Someone to Help Me Build Up My Strength”: A Meta-Synthesis of Lived Experience Perspectives on the Role and Value of a Dietitian in Eating Disorder Treatment.” (opens in a new window) Behavioural Sciences, 2023;13(11).

Zhu J, Hay PJ, Yang Y, Le Grange D, Lacey JH, Lujic S, Smith C, Touyz S. “Specific psychological therapies versus other therapies or no treatment for severe and enduring anorexia nervosa.” (opens in a new window) Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2023;8(8)

2022

Conti, J. Heywood, L. Hay, P. Makaju Shrestha, R. & Perich, T. (2022) Paper 2: A Systematic Review of Narrative Therapy Treatment Outcomes for Eating Disorders: Late to the research arm of evidence-based practice. (opens in a new window) Journal of Eating Disorders, 10, 138.

Dahill, L. M., Morrison, N. M. V., Mannan, H., Mitchison, D., Touyz, S., Bussey, K., Trompeter, N., & Hay, P. (2022). Exploring associations between positive and negative valanced parental comments about adolescents' bodies and eating and eating problems: A community study. (opens in a new window) Journal of Eating Disorders, 10(1), 43.

Nasim Foroughi, Laura Douglass, Caroline A Smith, Phillipa Hay. Young adult’s mental health literacy in relation to depression and their attitudes towards complementary medicine practices. (opens in a new window) Published in the journal of OBM Integrative and Complementary Medicine 2022, Volume 7, Issue 4.

A Hamilton, D Mitchison, C Basten, S Byrne, M Goldstein, P Hay, G Heruc, et al. (2022). Understanding treatment delay: perceived barriers preventing treatment-seeking for eating disorders. (opens in a new window) Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 56 (3), 248-259

Heywood, L., Conti, J. & Hay, P. (2022) Paper 1: A Systematic Synthesis of Narrative Therapy Treatment Components for Eating Disorders. (opens in a new window) Journal of Eating Disorders, 10:137.

Mital R, Hay P, Conti J and Mannan H (2022). “Associations between therapy experiences and perceived helpfulness of treatment for people with eating disorders”. (opens in a new window) Journal of Eating Disorders 10:80.

Patterson-Norrie, T., Ramjan, L., Sousa, M.S., George, A. (2022). Dieticians’ experiences of providing oral health promotion to clients with an eating disorder: A qualitative study. (opens in a new window) International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19, 14193.

Prnjak, K., Jukic, I., Mitchison, D., Griffiths, S., & Hay, P. (2022). Body image as a multidimensional concept: A systematic review of body image facets in eating disorders and muscle dysmorphia. (opens in a new window) Body Image, 42, 347-360.

AF Ralph, L Brennan, S Byrne, B Caldwell, J Farmer, LM Hart, GA Heruc, S Maguire, MK Piya, J Quin, SK Trobe, A Wallis, A J Williams-Tchen, P Hay. (2022). Management of eating disorders for people with higher weight: clinical practice guideline. (opens in a new window) Journal of Eating Disorders 10 (1), 1-42.

Santana DD, *Mannan H, *Mitchison D, Griffiths S, Appolinario JC, da Veiga GV, Touyz S, Hay P (2022). “Twenty-year associations between disordered eating behaviors and sociodemographic features in a multiple cross-sectional sample”. (opens in a new window) Psychological Medicine 1-10.

Trompeter, N., Bussey, K., Forbes, M., Hay, P., Goldstein, M., Thornton, C., Basten, C., Heruc, G., Roberts, M., Byrne, S., Griffiths, S., Lonergan, A., and Mitchison, D. (2022). Emotion dysregulation and eating disorder symptoms: Examining distinct associations and interactions in adolescents. (opens in a new window) Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology.

2021

Aouad P, Hay P, Foroughi N, Cosh SM, Mannan H (2021). Associations between Defence-Style, Eating Disorder Symptoms, and Quality of Life in Community Sample of Women: A Longitudinal Exploratory Study. (opens in a new window) Frontiers in Psychology.

Babbott, K.M., Mitchison, D., Basten, C., Thornton, C., Hay, P., Byrne, S., Goldstein, M., Heruc, G., van der Werf, B., Consedine, N., Roberts, M. (2021). Intuitive Eating Scale 2: psychometric properties and clinical norms among individuals seeking treatment for an eating disorder in private practice. (opens in a new window) Eating and Weight Disorders.

Chandra S, Calvert F, Sui Z, & Raman J. (2021). Perceived barriers and enablers to healthy eating and physical activity in endoscopic bariatric patients: A qualitative study. (opens in a new window) Eating and Weight Disorders. Accepted Sept 2021.

Dahill, L.; Mitchison, D.; Morrison, N.; Touyz, S.; Bussey, K.; Trompeter, N.; Lonergan, A.; Hay, P. Prevalence of parental comments on weight/shape/eating amongst sons and daughters in an adolescent sample. (opens in a new window) Nutrients 2021, 13, 158.

Dahill, L.M., Touyz, S., Morrison, N.M.V., Hay, P. Parental appearance teasing in adolescence and associations with eating problems: a systematic review. (opens in a new window) BMC Public Health 21, 450 (2021).

Dale E, Conigrave KM, Kelly PJ, Ivers R, Clapham K, & Lee K (2021). A Delphi yarn: applying Indigenous knowledges to enhance the cultural utility of SMART Recovery Australia. (opens in a new window) Addiction Science & Clinical Practice, 16(1), 1-15. This is the first study to combine an Indigenous research method with the Delphi technique to explore the cultural utility of mutual support group programmes for Indigenous Australians.

Fleming, C., Murphy-Alford, A., Cohen, J., Fleming, M., Wakefield, C., & Naumann, F. (2021). Poor diet quality and adverse eating behaviours in young survivors of childhood cancer. (opens in a new window) Pediatric Blood and Cancer.

Foroughi N, Donnelly B... Hay P. (2021). Neural Response to High and Low Energy Food Images in Anorexia Nervosa. (opens in a new window) Journal of OBM Neurobiology, 5(3).

Hamilton A, Mitchison, D., Basten, C., Byrne, S., Goldstein, M., Hay, P., Heruc, G., Thornton, C., & Touyz, S. (2021) . Understanding treatment delay: Perceived barriers preventing treatment-seeking for eating disorders. (opens in a new window) Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 1-12.

Hay P, Mitchison D. (2021). Urbanisation and eating disorders: A scoping review of studies from 2019-2020. (opens in a new window) Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 1;34(3):287-92.

Mitchison, D., Mond, J., Griffiths, S., Hay, P., et al. (2021). Prevalence of muscle dysmorphia in adolescents: findings from the EveryBODY study. (opens in a new window) Psychological Medicine, 1-8. 8.

Piya, M.K.; Chimoriya, R.; Yu, W.; Grudzinskas, K.; Myint, K.P.; Skelsey, K.; Kormas, N.; Hay, P. (2021). Improvement in Eating Disorder Risk and Psychological Health in People with Class 3 Obesity: Effects of a Multidisciplinary Weight Management Program. (opens in a new window) Nutrients, 13, 1425.

Prnjak, K., Hay, P., Mond, J., Bussey, K., Trompeter, N., Lonergan, A., & Mitchison, D. (2021). The distinct role of body image aspects in predicting eating disorder onset in adolescents after one year. (opens in a new window) Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 130(3), 236–247.

Santomauro, D. F., Melen, S., Mitchison, D., Vos, T., Whiteford, H., & Ferrari, A. J. (2021). The hidden burden of eating disorders: an extension of estimates from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. (opens in a new window) The Lancet Psychiatry, 8(4), 320-328.