Dr. Anthea Fursland heads up the only public specialist eating disorders programme in Western Australia for youth and adults. She is the Principal Clinical Psychologist of the Eating Disorders Programme at the Centre for Clinical Interventions (CCI). Six years ago she moved to Perth and started up the CCI Eating Disorders Programme, bringing with her 25 years of experience with eating disorders, in both the UK and the US.

In London she obtained her Masters, having trained at St. George’s Hospital (with Arthur Crisp and Hubert Lacey) and the Women’s Therapy Centre (with Susie Orbach and Marilyn Lawrence) before moving to Berkeley, California, where she obtained her PhD. She then worked for Kaiser Permanente, where she was Chair of Best Practices in Eating Disorders, co-ordinating eating disorder services in 24 clinics throughout northern California.

In addition to her clinical work at CCI, Anthea is involved in applied clinical research, service development, supervision, consultation, training and education (of GPs, mental health practitioners and carers). She has trained clinicians in WA, VIC, QLD and NSW in CBT-E. She has created a web-based self-help resource on eating disorders (http://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/resources/infopax.cfm?Info_ID=48) and co-authored several peer-reviewed papers.

Anthea is on the Steering Committee of the National Eating Disorders Collaboration (NEDC) in the role of co-chair of the Professional Development  Working Group. She is active in the international Academy of Eating Disorders (AED) as co-chair of the Special Interest Oversight Committee and a member of the Scientific Program Committee of the 2012 AED International Conference on Eating Disorders (to be held in Austin, Texas, in May 2012). In 2011 Anthea was elected as a Fellow of AED.

Dr Sloane Madden is co-director of The Eating Disorder Service at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, the largest public eating disorder service in NSW and one of the two largest adolescent eating disorder services in Australia. Dr Madden’s research has three major foci, early onset eating disorders, the treatment of anorexia nervosa and the neurobiology of eating disorders 
Dr Madden is a chief investigator and the clinical coordinator of a current, NHMRC funded, inpatient treatment trial of adolescent anorexia nervosa.  This study represents the first randomized controlled treatment trial of inpatient care in anorexia nervosa and when completed will be amongst the five largest treatment trials in this field. 

Dr Madden was the lead investigator in an Australia wide study exploring the incidence, psychological symptoms, physical complications and treatment of eating disorders in children under the age of 13 years.  This world first study has been presented at both international and national meetings generating intense media and professional interest.  This study has been published by the Medical Journal of Australia and was the subject of an editorial review.  This study has been replicated using identical methodology in both Canada and the United Kingdom. 
Dr Madden is a past chair of the neuroimaging special interest group in the Academy of Eating Disorders.  He is engaged in functional MRI research in adolescents with anorexia nervosa looking at changes in brain function in response to both food related stimuli and affective processing.  He has been invited to present a keynote address symposia and discussion panels on this subject at meetings including: the 6th Annual Conference, Australia and New Zealand Academy of Eating Disorders, Melbourne, Australia, , 2007,  the Academy of Eating Disorders, International Conference, Baltimore, 2007, Eating Disorder Research Society Annual Meeting, Port Douglas, Australia, 2006, the Academy of Eating Disorders, International Conference on Eating Disorders, Barcelona, Spain, 2006 and the 6th International Congress of Neuropsychiatry, Sydney, Australia 2006.

Dr Madden is the author of over 20 peer reviewed journal articles and book chapters on eating disorders.  He is the Co-Chair of the Scientific Committee for the Academy of Eating Disorders, International Conference, Cancun, Mexico 2009 and has been a member of the Scientific Program Committee for the 2006, 2008 and 2011 Academy of Eating Disorders, International Conferences in Barcelona, Spain and Baltimore, USA. 

Dr Madden has been a member of State Government advisory panels to the including the NSW Department of Health Stimulants Committee and the NSW Department of Health Advisory Committee: Restraint, Seclusion and Transport for Patients with behavioural disturbance.  He is a member of the consortium that has been chosen to develop the Australian Government, Department of Health and Aging funded Eating Disorder Collaboration with the goal of developing a consistent, coordinated national continuum of care approach to the promotion, prevention, early intervention, treatment and management of eating disorders. Dr Madden chairs one of the five steering committees on this project. 

Dr. Ward is the Director of the Eating Disorder Service at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland and a Board Member for the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Learning.

Dr Warren Ward graduated in medicine at the University of Queensland (UQ) in 1987 and became a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) in 1995, later serving as a member of the Fellowships Board for the RANZCP and as Chair of the RANZCP Committee for Training. He obtained a Graduate Certificate in Management (Queensland Health) from QUT in 2001. In his current position as Director of the RBWH Eating Disorders Service, he provides leadership of the Qld Eating Disorder Outreach Service which provides state-wide education, training, consultation-liaison, tertiary assessment and treatment services, and advice on state-wide planning and service development for patients with eating disorders. He is also Chair of the Eating Disorders Sub-network of the Queensland State Mental Health Network.

Beth works as a clinician, consultant and educator in the areas of eating disorders and body image. At MonashLink Community Health Service, Beth has developed a disordered eating service (DES) based in a psychology/dietetics clinical model. DES provides early, accessible and multidisciplinary treatment for eating disorders and obesity. Beth is senior clinician at the Centre of Excellence in Eating Disorders, a state-wide service providing support, training and service development to clinicians in the Victorian public health sector. A psychologist with a professional background in choreography and community cultural development, Beth is interested in the role of movement and body experience in interventions for disordered eating and body dissatisfaction. She has written a book and journal articles about community cultural development through movement.

Chris Thornton is a member of the College of Clinical Psychology of the Australian Psychological Society.  He is a consultant Clinical Psychologist with strong links to the multidisiplinary teams at both the Peter Beumont Centre for Eating Disorders and The Northside Clinic over the last 15 years. He is the clinical director of The Redleaf Practice, a group of clinical psychologists dedicated to the empirically validated outpatient treatment of eating disorders.  He is the clinical consultant to the Thrive residential and day program providing services to patients with eating disorders on the North Island of New Zealand.  Chris is a member of the Steering Committee of the National Eating Disorders Collaboration and is the co-chair of the Professional Development Working Group of the NEDC.

Chris is well known for his work on increasing patients’ motivation for change, his use of advanced cognitive behavioural therapy techniques, including mindfullness based interventions. He has published his research in leading scientific journals and conducted workshops nationally and internationally on the treatment of eating disorders.  He co-authored the Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Psychological Treatment of Anorexia Nervosa and is the co-author of the successful book “How to Recover from Anorexia Nervosa and Other Eating Disorders”.  Chris is a Clinical Associate with the School of Psychology at The University of Sydney and Macquarie University. Chris is an invited speaker at this year’s Associated Independant School Counsellors annual conference. 
www.theredleafpractice.com

Adrienne is a mental health nurse who has worked in eating disorders since 1998 primarily at Wesley Hospital Ashfield. She has extensive clinical and group therapy experience and more recently was the unit manager of the Wesley Eating Disorders Centre (WEDC).  She has presented at conferences and workshops and now divides her working time between a facilitation role of student nurses with University of Technology Sydney and working clinically at WEDC.  Her special interests are nurse/patient therapeutic alliance in eating disorders and the education of nurses working in this area.  

Andrew Wallis is a Clinical Specialist Social Worker specialising in family therapy. Andrew has worked with adolescents and their families for the last 15 years in a range of clinical settings. He has post graduate training in family therapy and child and adolescent mental health. His current role is as team leader of the Eating Disorder Family Therapy Team at The Children's Hospital and Co-Manager of the Family Therapy Research and Training Clinic run by the Department of Adolescent Medicine and the Department of Psychological Medicine. He has had a key role helping clinicians around Australia implement family based treatment for Anorexia Nervosa through training, consultation and supervision since 2003.z

Gabbi is an Accredited Practising Dietitian, with an undergraduate degree in psychology and a Master of Nutrition and Dietetics. She specialises in the nutritional management of eating disorders in private practice, and is currently undertaking a PhD at The University of Adelaide examining gastrointestinal appetite regulation in anorexia nervosa. She has a strong interest in improving education and professional development opportunities for dietitians working in the eating disorders field, and lectures dietetic students on mental health and eating disorders at The University of South Australia. She is also the vice-convenor and professional development coordinator for the Dietitian’s Association of Australia Eating Disorder Interest Group, and was a lead investigator for the 2010-2011 National Benchmarking Survey of Dietitians working in the Eating Disorders Field.

Michelle Williams is a paediatrician at the Royal Hobart Hospital, Tasmania, and runs the child and adolescent eating disorder service. She is also a senior lecturer at the University of Tasmania and an instructor and course director of APLS Australia. In addition, she works in adolescent health, developmental and general paediatrics. She trained at Melbourne Uni, and has worked at Queen Charlotte’s London, RCH Melbourne and in Hobart. She prefers clinical work and maintaining a work life balance to publishing articles!

In her role as Community Development/Education Officer at Eating Disorders Victoria, Naomi Crafti has a fulltime commitment to health promotion. In particular, her role puts her in almost daily contact with school staff/students/parents and administrators. In addition to her work with schools, Naomi is regularly invited to speak to community groups, the fitness and fashion industries, mental health workers, youth workers and medical professionals about eating disorders, obesity and body image issues. Naomi regularly presents at conferences including, in 2010, the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Eating Disorders (ANZAED) conference, the Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation (ACHPER) conference and the Australian and New Zealand Obesity Society (ANZOS) annual meeting. In 2011 Naomi has been invited to present a workshop at the 10th International Eating Disorders Conference in London.
Naomi is a member of the Australian Psychological Society (APS) and the College of Counselling Psychologists and supervises a number of psychologists, counsellors, psychiatric nurses and dietitians working in the eating disorder area. Naomi sits on the advisory boards of the St Vincents/Austin Body Image and Eating Disorders Treatment Service (BETRS) and Kids Go For Your Life. Naomi is also on the steering committee of the National Eating Disorder Collaboration (NEDC) and is a co-chair of the Prevention and Early Intervention Working Group within this collaboration. Currently Naomi is also on the advisory board of the Butterfly Body Image Education Resources (BBIER) project and a member of the University of Melbourne Diabetes and Obesity consortium.

Rachel is the Acting Clinical Head of the South island Eating Disorders Service and a Senior Clinical Psychologist.  She has extensive experience in the treatment of eating disorders  in both New Zealand and the United Kingdom.  She has co-authored two books on the treatment of eating disorders which are available in English speaking countries and have now been published in Greek and Polish.  She has also published research in this field.  She provides supervision to clinicians. She speaks to local, national and international audiences about eating disorders and provides workshops.  She is the New Zealand representative on the committee for  the Australia and New Zealand Academy for Eating Disorder and also sits on the professional workforce development  committee.  Over the past two years she has worked as a project leader for the eating disorders for the Werry Centre establishing a national collaborative data base, special interest groups and working to roll out Maudsley Family Based Therapy across New Zealand. Qualifications: (MAHons), DipClinPsych., Reg Psych

Shane is an Accredited Practising Dietitian who has specialised in the nutritional management of eating disorders for 15 years.  During this time he has held positions across both public and private services in Australia and the UK.  Shane is actively involved in the eating disorder community, and has presented numerous papers, workshops and seminars at the state and national level.  He is the current convenor of the Dietitians Association of Australia Eating Disorder Interest Group, and has a special interest in advancing the knowledge and skill base of dietitians working across the eating disorders.

Simon currently works in both research and treatment settings in the area of eating disorders.  He holds a South Australian Centre for Intergenerational Health Early Career Research Fellowship where his research work (0.6FTE) involves developing and evaluating school-based programs to prevent the onset of eating disorders and obesity.  His clinical work (0.4FTE) is in a private practice that he established with a colleague (Dr Anna Steele) in 2009, that specialises in the treatment of eating disorders and body image problems.

Susan is an Accredited Practising Dietitian that has completed her PhD examining the evidence base underlying the nutritional management of eating disorders. She has published widely on this topic and was awarded 2nd place for the Peter Beumont Young Investigator Award in 2008, the Dietitians Association of Australia Emerging Researcher Award for 2009 and the Joan Woodhill Prize for Excellence in Research Doctoral Award, 2011. She has 15 years of clinical experience working with eating disorders in the inpatient and day patient setting and is currently program manager of Derwent House - The Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Eating Disorder Day Program in Sydney. She is continuing her research in the nutritional issues affecting eating disorder patients with a special interest in glucose metabolism, and the nature of disordered fluid intake in eating disorder patients. Susan also has 5 years experience working at Royal North Shore Hospital Diabetes Education Centre where she became interested in working with young adults with a co-morbid eating disorder and Type 1 diabetes. She has presented many times on this topic and published “The practical management of patients with type 1 diabetes requiring in-patient care due to an eating disorder” (Hart et al., 2005). She is interested in doing more research in this area, particularly evaluating specialist interventions for young people with diabetes who also misuse their insulin.

Susan is Professor in the School of Psychological Science at La Trobe University, Melbourne.  She has a longstanding clinical and research interest in body image and eating disorders.  She has a particular interest in identification of risk factors for body dissatisfaction and disordered eating and the development and evaluation of school-based and community prevention and early interventions in this area.  Susan was a member of the Body Image Advisory Group which advised the Australian Federal Minister for Youth, Kate Ellis, and the Victorian State Ministerial Advisory Committee on Body Image and Ministerial Advisory Committee for Eating Disorders. She has been President of the Australian and New Zealand Academy for Eating Disorders (2004-2007), and President of the Academy of Eating Disorders (2009-2010).  Susan is currently a Director of the Butterfly Foundation and co-chair of the Promotion and Prevention Steering Committee of the National Eating Disorders Collaboration in Australia.  She has been appointed to the national Positive Body Image Awards Advisory and Assessment Panel.