A Chance to Heal has dedicated itself to being the most comprehensive thought leader in the area of eating disorder prevention. Consistent with this commitment, ACTH has formed a Professional Advisory Council to gather and disseminate the latest research and practices to inform the work of the board, committees and staff. Headed by local professionals Jane Shure, PhD, LCSW and David Steinman, MD, this group of eating disorder prevention experts are considered some of the nation’s most influential thought leaders.
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 sexual orientation and health disparities.
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 5-2-1-Go! and Planet Health studies, both middle-school-based interventions 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. She published two papers from independent randomized controlled trials demonstrating the protective effect of the Planet Health curriculum on the development of disordered weight control behaviors in early adolescent girls. She is also co-principal investigator of the Healthy Choices Collaborative Study, a three-year, multilevel evaluation of nutrition and physical activity program in 50 Massachusetts middle schools across the state in partnership with the Harvard School of Public Health, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Dr. Carolyn Becker is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Trinity University in San Antonio. She also is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in the treatment and prevention of eating disorders, and the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder. Prior to joining the faculty at Trinity University, she served as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Behavioral Medicine and subsequently as Director of the Eating Disorders Program at Dartmouth Medical School. She completed her undergraduate degree at Swarthmore College, her doctoral degree at Rutgers University, and her clinical internship at Brown University.
The primary focus of Dr. Becker's teaching, research, and clinical work is the implementation of scientifically supported prevention and treatment interventions in clinical and real world settings. She is the author of over 20 peer-reviewed journal articles and recently co-authored a book on the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder published by Guilford Press. She also is the scientific and clinical director of Tri Delta's Reflections: Body Image Program and co-author of the program manual, which was published by Oxford University Press's Treatments that Work Series.
She serves on the editorial boards of Behaviour Research and Therapy, Body Image, Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, and the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. Her research on the prevention of eating disorders with female athletes has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Becker is a member of the Eating Disorder Research Society and a Fellow of the Academy of Eating Disorders (AED). She also serves at the co-chair of the Prevention Special Interest Group of AED, and has served as the chairperson of the Obesity and Eating Disorders Special Interest Group of the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies. In 2009, she and Tri Delta were joint recipients of the AED's Research-Practice Partnership Award for their work on eating disorders prevention with sorority members.
Kathy Kater, LICSW is a St. Paul, MN psychotherapist and an internationally known and respected author, speaker, and consultant who has specialized in treatment and prevention of the full spectrum of body image, eating, fitness and weight concerns for over 30 years. Frustrated that progress in understanding these problems had not been matched by effective prevention, Kater authored Healthy Body Image: Teaching Kids to Eat and Love Their Bodies Too!, Second Edition (2005, National Eating Disorders Association; First Edition 1998). Healthy Body Image is recommended by the U.S.D.H. of Office of Women's Health in their BodyWise information packet for educators. Kater is a widely recognized authority on promotion of healthy body image, eating, fitness, and weight and is regularly invited to speak nationally and internationally at professional conferences, schools, colleges, universities and to community organizations.
Michael P. Levine is Samuel B. Cummings Jr. Professor of Psychology and former chair of the Psychology Department at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. He received his PhD in experimental psychology in 1979 from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He currently teaches courses in abnormal psychology, eating disorders, theories of personality, research methods, clinical psychology, and introductory psychology.
Dr. Levine's special interest is eating problems and their links with preventive education, developmental psychology, and community psychology. He has published many articles and chapters on these topics and presented numerous papers, and he has given many talks at professional meetings and educational conferences in the United States, Canada, Spain, Australia, and Great Britain. A significant portion of his research is done in collaboration with his Kenyon colleague Dr. Linda Smolak, an expert in gender and life-span development, in research methodology, and in the developmental psychopathology of eating problems.
Dr. Levine is the co-editor (along with Drs. Smolak and Ruth Striegel-Moore) of the book The Developmental Psychopathology of Eating Disorders (Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 1996) and (with Drs. Niva Piran and Catherine Steiner-Adair) of Preventing Eating Disorders: A Handbook of Interventions and Special Challenges (Philadelphia, PA: Brunner/Mazel, 1999). In August of 2005 Lawrence Erlbaum and Associates published Levine and Smolak's (2006) book The Prevention of Eating Problems and Eating Disorders: Theory, Research, and Practice.
A member of Phi Beta Kappa, Dr. Levine was honored in 1985 as the Volunteer of the Year by the Mental Health Association of Ohio. He was also recognized by the National Anorexic Aid Society (NAAS) for Outstanding Community Service (1984) and Outstanding Professional Service (1989). He is currently a Fellow of the Academy for Eating Disorders (AED), and he is a former member and president of the volunteer board of trustees of the non-profit organization, Eating Disorders Awareness & Prevention, Inc., which also has become a part of NEDA. In 2004 he received the Lori Irving Award for Eating Disorders Prevention and Awareness from NEDA, and in June 2006 he received the Meehan-Hartley Award for Leadership in Public Awareness and Advocacy from the AED. Dr. Levine lives in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, with his wife, Dr. Mary Suydam, a medievalist who studies women's spirituality, with an emphasis on mysticism. They have two sons (ages 27 and 30) and a daughter (age 23).
Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, PhD, MPH, RD, is a Professor in the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health and an Adjunct Professor in the Dept of Pediatrics, both at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Neumark-Sztainer's research interests focus mainly on adolescent nutrition and the prevention of weight-related disorders including eating disorders, unhealthy weight control behaviors, and obesity. Her work aims to help young people feel good about themselves and their bodies, and adopt healthy eating and physical activity behaviors as self-nurturing behaviors. Her research explores the potential for integrating eating disorder and obesity prevention through intervention, epidemiological, and qualitative studies. She has been Principal Investigator on a number of projects aimed at preventing risk factors for eating disorders and obesity in youth including The Weigh to Eat, Free to be Me, New Moves, Very Important Kids, and Ready, Set, Action. Dr. Neumark-Sztainer is the Principal Investigator of Project EAT (Eating Among Teens), a cross-sectional and longitudinal study of eating patterns and weight-related concerns in a large sample of adolescents. She has examined disordered eating among youth with diabetes and has studied issues of weight stigmatization among overweight teens.
Dr. Neumark-Sztainer has written several book chapters and has published about 250 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals. She wrote a book for parents of adolescents that provides a synthesis of her research and guidelines for helping their children have healthy bodies and body images. Her book is entitled: "I'm, like, SO, fat!" Helping your teen make healthy choices about eating and exercise in a weight-obsessed world. She has presented her work at numerous scientific national and international conferences and is involved in outreach work aimed at the prevention of eating disorders via community presentations, media interviews and different consultations. She also teaches and advises students in public health nutrition, adolescent health, and related areas.
Dr. Neumark-Sztainer previously was a member of the Board of the Academy for Eating Disorders and served on the Academy's Fellowship Committee and Nominating Committee. She serves on the Clinical and Scientific Advisory Council and on the Research Committee of the National Eating Disorders Association. She received the Lori Irving Award for Excellence in Eating Disorder Prevention and Awareness from the National Eating Disorders Association and the Research Award from the Eating Disorders Coalition. Dr. Neumark-Sztainer was selected as the outstanding faculty mentor for postdoctoral fellows at the University of Minnesota in 2008.
Jane Shure, PhD, LCSW a psychotherapist with 30 years of expertise and a nationally known speaker, workshop leader, and writer, recognized for her work in strengthening resilience in an effort to transform shame and trauma. For over ten years, she has been on the faculty of the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Stockbridge, MA, leading weekend workshops on QuietingYour Inner Critic & Calming Your Anxious Mind.
Jane is co-editor of Effective Clinical Practice in the Treatment of Eating Disorders: The Heart of the Matter (Routledge,2009), and co-author of "Shame, Compassion and the Journey to Health" in the same volume. In 2003, she co-founded and subsequently, co-authored a self-esteem/resiliency building curriculum: The Inside/Outside Self-Discovery Program for the Middle School Years: Strategies to Promote Emotional Health, Resilience, and Relationships (ToucanEd, 2009).
Named a "Top Doc for Women" by Philadelphia Magazine, Jane writes for the Huffington Post, is a founding board member of A Chance to Heal, co-creator of SelfMatters.org (dedicated to strengthening self-esteem), and creator of "The Doctor's In" blog.
Joslyn Smith was the Senior Legislative Assistant for the American Psychological Association's Public Interest Government Relations Office. In this role, she was responsible for federal policy efforts addressing eating disorders and obesity prevention. As a policy analyst and advocate, Ms. Smith is committed to raising awareness of eating disorders and challenging stereotypes surrounding weight and health.
David Steinman, MD, is a psychiatrist in general private practice for 17 years. He has a particular interest in mood disorders, impaired professionals, eating disorders, and the interface between psychotherapy and psychopharmacology. David is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and teaches the residents and medical students.
David is married to Ruth, also a psychiatrist, and they have two children, Jacob and Eliana. In his spare time, he is a runner and triathlete.
Dr. Stice completed his graduate studies at Arizona State University, his clinical internship at the University of California at San Diego, and his postdoctoral training at Stanford University. His research program focuses on identifying the risk factors that predict onset of eating disorders, obesity, and depression. In addition, he also develops and evaluates prevention programs for these conditions. He is currently conducting an 8-year prospective risk factor study that is following 500 young females throughout adolescence, as well as three randomized prevention trials that are evaluating interventions that have been informed by risk factor research. He is also initiating a brain imaging study that is seeking to identify biological risk factors for development of eating pathology and obesity.
