UTHealth Houston Center for Eating Disorders to Launch at Bridging the Gap Conference
The following is an invitation from Zachary S. Appenzeller, PsyD, Director of the UTHealth Houston Center for Eating Disorders:
Dear Colleagues,
I want to cordially invite you all to the 2025 UTHealth Houston Center for Eating Disorders Update Conference: “Bridging the Gap” to be held May 3, 2025, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Helix Park and virtually over Zoom.
My Medical Director, Dr. Asha Davidson, and I are thrilled to share that we managed to secure some of our most renowned colleagues to present for this conference. We have speakers coming in from around the country who lead the field in psychological and medical treatment for eating disorders.
Despite high and increasing prevalence rates, most providers across disciplines receive little to no education on eating disorders throughout their graduate and postgraduate training. We are fortunate as a field to have outstanding, evidence-based treatments for these often life-altering and potentially fatal conditions. However, poor dissemination of these treatments continues to pose a significant barrier to patients seeking access to adequate care. While Houston is the 4th largest city in the country and home to the largest medical center in the world, we have a disproportionately low amount of therapists and dietitians in the community that treat patients with eating disorders, with even fewer that practice from the evidence base.
Please note that this is as much a conference for all medical providers across disciplines and the community at large as it is the psychiatry and psychology faculty and staff.
From what we’ve observed, there is an even smaller number of outpatient medical providers in the Greater Houston area that specialize in providing medical oversight for eating-disorder patients throughout their time in treatment. There is only one other children’s hospital within hundreds of miles that provides any semblance of inpatient care for adolescents with eating disorders, and there are zero local inpatient options for adults.
We are beyond fortunate that one of these few medical providers is my medical counterpart here at the UTHealth Houston Center for Eating Disorders and at the helm of developing inpatient eating disorder protocols at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital: Dr. Davidson has been a godsend!
We need more eating disorder–informed medical providers to help improve early detection, safely engage patients in evidence-based treatments, and help well-intentioned providers to not inadvertently cause harm when advising patients about their body/weight in ways that go against what research supports as healthy.
Thanks in advance for helping us “bridge the gap” for these patients in need. We look forward to hopefully seeing many of you there!