eMHIC Fireside Chat: Eating Disorders and Technology: Challenges and Opportunities Across the Spectrum of Care

Description

Eating disorders impact around 8% of the world’s population. They can be experienced by people of any age, gender identity, body size, sexuality, or cultural background. It is not just individuals affected; it is their families and communities too. With such a widespread and important issue, there are great opportunities to use a range of digital technologies to support people impacted by eating disorders and their loved ones. However, there are significant challenges too.

In this webinar hosted by eMHIC and the Consortium for Research in Eating Disorders (CoRe-ED), Dr Jorge Palacios will firstly discuss how to implement digital solutions that patients and clinicians engage with, and how to build an evidence base that establishes effectiveness. Arielle Smith will discuss the promise of highly scalable, digital single-session interventions for eating disorders. Rachael Burns will discuss the opportunities and pitfalls that lie within digital technologies from a lived experience perspective. Prof Gemma Sharp will finish with sharing her experiences leading national and international digital health initiative partnerships in eating disorders.

Webinar Key Discussion Points:

Co-designing digital health tools with people with a lived eating disorder experience as well as other key stakeholders is crucial.
Reaching and engaging with people who will benefit from eating disorder digital health tools remains a substantial challenge.
Evaluations of digital health tools in eating disorders need to be multifaceted and adaptable.
There are more considerations to be taken into account in eating disorder digital tool development, particularly neurodivergence status of the users. No one tool will suit all.
There are great opportunities for digital health integration in eating disorder support.

Fiona Costello
Fractional Strategic Initiatives Lead and Webinar MC
eMHIC
England

Fiona Costello is a seasoned healthcare professional with over 15 years of experience spanning the NHS, private, and non-profit sectors. Currently serving as Strategic Initiatives Lead at eMHIC, International Business Development Director at Aire Innovate, and SVP Partnerships at Brain+, Fiona has consistently demonstrated her commitment to improving health services through technology. Her notable achievements include expanding digital mental health technology within NHS services at SilverCloud Health, contributing to the Canadian Mental Health App Assessment Standard with ORCHA, and enhancing digital health delivery in India. At Aire Innovate, Fiona advocates for the adoption of low-code platforms in healthcare, believing these tools can streamline processes and enhance patient care. With a focus on driving innovation safely and effectively, Fiona remains dedicated to learning and growing in the digital health field, always striving to contribute positively to healthcare outcomes through innovative solutions.

Arielle Smith
Clinical Psychology PhD Student
Northwestern University, Chicago, USA
USA

Arielle Smith (she/her) is a first-year Clinical Psychology PhD student at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She is a member of the Lab for Scalable Mental Health, directed by Dr. Jessica Schleider. Arielle’s research focuses on the development and implementation of brief, scalable, digital supports for youth with eating and body image concerns. She is passionate about increasing access to care among groups that have been historically overlooked in eating disorders research and treatment. Prior to beginning her PhD, Arielle received a BA in Psychological & Brain Sciences from Washington University in St. Louis.

Connect with Arielle on BlueSky: ariellesmith.bsky.social

Dr Jorge Palacios
Research and Scientific Strategy
Bright Therapeutics
England

Dr Jorge Palacios drives the research and scientific strategy for Bright Therapeutics, working on leading DTx products such as Recovery Record for eating disorders, Recovery Path for substance use disorders and Moodlinks for depression and anxiety disorders. Following his medical training and PhD from King’s College London in Psychological Medicine, he helped shape and lead research and implementation of digital interventions at SilverCloud Health, through to its acquisition by Amwell. A global advocate for digital therapeutics, his work has been featured in top academic journals, and he speaks widely at international conferences on expanding access and improving engagement with evidence-based digital interventions.

Connect with Jorge on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-jorge-e-palacios/

Rachael Burns
Lived Experience Advocate
Western Australia

Rachael Burns is a 22-year-old Lived Experience mental health advocate living on Whadjuk Noongar land in Western Australia. She is fiercely passionate about humanising mental health treatment and recognising intersectionality, especially for neurodivergent, queer and disabled folk. Rachael sits on a number of state and national advisory boards, volunteers tirelessly, and works in and alongside many organisations using her Lived Experience expertise in pursuit of a kinder, more accepting and humane world.

Connect with Rachael:

Professor Gemma Sharp
Founding Director
Consortium for Research in Eating Disorders (CoRe-ED)
Australia

Professor Gemma Sharp is the Founding Director and Member of the international not-for-profit, the Consortium for Research in Eating Disorders (CoRe-ED). Since launch in September 2024, hundreds of researchers, clinicians, people with lived experience, industry and not-for-profit advocates have joined CoRe-ED from over 20 countries. Gemma is also a Professor at University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, where she leads the Body Image & Eating Disorders Research Program and is a registered clinical psychologist and credentialed eating disorder clinician. She has led several world-first eating disorder focused digital health initiatives.

Connect with Gemma:

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