Lifetime Achievement Award in the Field of Eating Disorders – Awarded to Susan Byrne
The ANZAED Lifetime Achievement Award in the Field of Eating Disorders is awarded to recognise an ANZAED member who is in the latter part of their career and has made an exceptional contribution over an extended period of time, i.e., someone who had had a substantial career in the field. This year’s award recognises Dr Susan Byrne. Susan is internationally recognised for her extensive experience over the past 30 years as a clinician and researcher in the field of eating disorders. She has an MPsych (Clinical) and PhD from The University of Western Australia (UWA). Susan also has a DPhil from Oxford University, supervised by Prof Christopher Fairburn, where she spent five years undertaking research and clinical training, alongside him. On her return to Australia, Susan became an Associate Professor at UWA, combining both research and clinical training with equal passion. During this time, she set up the UWA Eating Disorders Service, a low-cost treatment option for individuals with eating disorders. Susan has also co-authored many papers with international experts through her role at the University of Western Australia (UWA).
ANZAED ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS
The Lifetime Achievement in the Field of Eating Disorders Award will be made to recognise an ANZAED member who is in the latter part of their career and who has made an exceptional contribution over an extended period of time, i.e., some-one who had had a substantial career in the field.
This Award may not necessarily be given every year.
A Distinguished Achievement Award in the Field of Eating Disorders is awarded to recognise a distinguished contribution of an ANZAED member in one or more of the following fields related to eating disorders: Research; Clinical Practice; Education/Administration; Advocacy.
This Award may not necessarily be given every year.
2022 ANZAED Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient – Marika Tiggemann
This award was presented to Emeritus Professor Marika Tiggemann in recognition of her contribution to the eating disorder sector. Marika has had an outstanding and inspirational academic contribution in the field of body image and in particular in investigating the effects of media exposure on body image from a social comparison and objectification theory lens, several metrics highlight this contribution. Notably her current ranking on SciVal over the past five years as the world’s number 1 most active researcher, number 1 most read researcher and number 1 most cited researcher in the field of body image is extraordinary. It is indeed a privilege for our field and our Academy to have such a well-recognised and leading researcher among ANZAED’s members. Her body of work has made an outstanding contribution to the field’s understanding of body image, media, and objectification theory and has inspired a generation to contribute to scientific research in the field of eating disorders.
2020 ANZAED Joint Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients – Associate Professor Sloane Madden & Mr Chris Thornton
Associate Professor Sloane Madden is the Eating Disorder Service Coordinator for the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network and lead clinician in The Eating Disorder Service at the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network, Westmead Campus, the largest public eating disorder service in NSW and the largest child and adolescent eating disorder service in Australia. He has been the team leader of the Eating Disorders Service at Children’s Hospital Westmead since 2000 and been the Eating Disorder Coordinator since 2014. Associate Professor Madden has acted as the Head of Department of Psychological Medicine from 2002-2007 and again from 2010 – 2014.
Mr Chris Thornton is a clinical psychologist who has specialised in the treatment of patients with eating disorders for nearly 25 years. Chris is the Clinical Director and Principal Clinical Psychologist of The Redleaf Practice. He provides supervision and case consultation to all receiving treatment at The Redleaf Practice. Chris has held positions at the major private eating disorders units in NSW, at The Northside Clinic, The Peter Beumont Centre for Eating Disorders at Wesley Hospital, and the Hills Private Hospital. He was actively involved in the design and implementation of Psychological Therapy in those hospital’s eating disorders service. He was responsible for the supervision of the Clinical Psychologists working on the program and for training Doctorate of Clinical Psychology Interns on their Eating Disorders rotation.
The ANZAED 2019 Lifetime Achievement Awards in the Field of Eating Disorders was presented to Christine Morgan & Claire Diffey.
Christine worked for 25 years working in company law and was Company Secretary / General Counsel for a number of public listed companies, and Executive General Manager Business Strategy for Telstra, before moving to the not-for-profit sector. She moved to the position of General Manager at Wesley Mission over portfolios including community services, health, corporate services and fundraising and then became CEO of Eating Disorders Foundation of NSW. In 2009, Christine was appointed CEO of the Butterfly Foundation and joined the Board of Directors in 2013, positions she held until 2019. During this time, Christine also held the position of National Director of the National Eating Disorders Collaboration.
Claire commenced her career in mental health as a mental health nurse in public mental health. She was instrumental in introducing a family centred approach to child and youth mental health, implementing reflective practice and single session work with families. Claire commenced at CEED in 2007 and become its Manager in 2008 and has continued in that role until her recent retirement in June 2019. In her role as Manager, Claire ensured ongoing project funding to implement novel treatments like multi-family therapy for adolescent anorexia nervosa and Collaborative Carer Skills Workshops; the engagement and roll-out of evidence based treatment training for headspace centres and has been an innovator and advocate for integrating carer lived experience workforce at all levels of the eating disorders system of care.

The ANZAED 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award in the Field of Eating Disorders was presented to Susan Paxton.
Susan is Professor Emeritus in the School of Psychology and Public Health at La Trobe University. In her distinguished career as a clinical psychologist and academic, Susan has made an exceptional contribution to theoretical and applied eating disorders research, spanning from prevention to intervention, using self-help and group therapy approaches, and has investigated theoretical models of risk and development of bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, disordered eating, and body dissatisfaction across the lifespan. Susan has published 186 papers in peer review and received the Academy for Eating Disorders Leadership Award for Research in 2013. She has also supported the development of the next generation of researchers in the field, having supervised 39 PhD/ Psychology Doctorate students. Susan is highly regarded as an expert in body image and eating disorders, having participated in state and federal advisory committees, steering committees such as the National Eating Disorder Collaboration (2011-2018), and as Chair of expert advisory panels. Susan has also contributed as President (2004-2007) and Secretary (2013-2017) of ANZAED and President of the Academy for Eating Disorders (2009-2010).

This award was presented to Claire Middleton by President Beth Shelton on Saturday 2nd September in recognition of her tremendous work tirelessly and passionately carried out over many decades.
She has been an advocatey in the field, and has established and nurtured the Butterfly Foundation, now a national advocacy organisation also involved in the delivery of a range of services. Claire is an innovator whose initiatives have changed the eating disorder field in Australia very much for the better, and continue to do so. Many people lives have been enhanced by her work – people with lived experience as consumers and carers, along with clinicians and researchers.

The 2016 awards was presented to Anthea Fursland by President Beth Shelton, in recognition of Anthea’s tireless and passionate works in the field of eating disorders carried out over her significant career. Anthea was President of ANZAED between 2011 and 2013. She has chaired two annual conferences (in 2008 and 2014), and has contributed significantly to the field, primarily as a clinician, but also as a researcher, educator and supervisor. She has been the chair of an international Conference on Eating Disorders in 2015, and is a leader and landmark of the eating disorder adult field in her home state of Western Australia.

The 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award was won by Professor Phillipa Hay and was introduced by Stephen Touyz and awarded by Sloane Madden.
Professor Hay is one of the founding members of ANZAED and has served for many years on the ANZAED Executive and for two years as ANZAED’s President. She has always been a great supporter of ANZAED in many different ways, however her contribution to the field of eating disorders goes far beyond her contribution to ANZAED. She has made an enormous research contribution and she has further built the reputation of Australians working in the eating disorder field with the establishment of the Journal of eating Disorders along with Stephen Touyz. Not only does she have a great vision for her field, but she also has the energy and common sense to make important things happen.

The inaugural award winner was Professor Stephen Touyz who was awarded a Lifetime Achievement award on 22 August 2014 at the 12th annual ANZAED conference in Freemantle. The award was presented by President Sloane Madden and Past President Chris Thornton in recognition of distinguished and valued contributions to ANZAED and the eating disorders community of clinicians, researchers and consumers. Stephen was one of the founders of ANZAED in 2005 and was our inaugural Treasurer.
2023 ANZAED Distinguished Achievement Award Recipient – Awarded to Andrew Wallis
The ANZAED Distinguished Achievement Award is awarded to recognise an ANZAED member who has made an outstanding contribution the field of eating disorders through their work in research, clinical practice, education/administration, and/or advocacy. This year’s award recognises Dr Andrew Wallis. Andrew is currently the Co-Director of the Eating Disorder Service for the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network (SCHN) and has held this position since 2013. As a Clinical Specialist Social Worker, he is the lead for the eating disorder allied health team across the SCHN, as well as the Deputy Head of the Department of Adolescent Medicine at The Children’s Hospital Westmead (CHW), a position he has held since 2012. Andrew has been instrumental in the development and continued enhancement of both the inpatient and outpatient services across SCHN. Andrew has authored multiple book chapters, peer review articles and published books. As part of his PhD, Andrew conducted important research into family relationships and child and adolescent eating disorder treatment. He has also made important author contributions to research in adolescent eating disorder day programs and multi-therapy group programs, family therapy for eating disorders, and meal support.
2022 ANZAED Distinguished Achievement Award Recipient – Awarded to Beth Shelton
This award was awarded to Beth in recognition of her contributions to training and evidence-based practice in her clinical role at CEED; her contribution to leadership in her role as a Past President of ANZAED; and the impact of her work at a National level in her role as Director of NEDC where she have been involved in advocacy, lobbying at government level, as well as the implementation and mapping of a seamless system of care, training, and workforce development among many other achievements. Throughout her work with the eating disorders sector, she has had an outstanding ability to visualise the broader sector needs and to facilitate collaboration among stakeholders, which has contributed to important advances in our field.
2021 ANZAED Distinguished Achievement Award Recipient – Awarded to Dr Bronwyn Raykos
Dr. Bronwyn Raykos has worked as a clinical psychologist in the field of eating disorders for over 15 years and currently leads the eating disorders program at the Centre for Clinical Interventions (CCI), which is the only government funded service for the treatment of eating disorders in Western Australia (WA). During her time in this field, Dr. Raykos has significantly improved access to evidence-based care and treatment outcomes for adolescents and adults with eating disorders in WA. She also provides supervision, consultation and training on eating disorders to a broad range of professionals. A true scientist-practitioner, she is constantly involved in conducting clinically applied research at CCI to ensure that the effectiveness of interventions for eating disorders is being improved over time.
2020 ANZAED Distinguished Achievement Award Recipient – Awarded to Dr Jeremy Freeman
Dr Jeremy Freeman is the Development Director at ANZAED and assists ANZAED develop its range of member services as well as in advocating for the needs of clinicians, researchers and others to better understand and support people with Eating Disorders. Based in Sydney Australia, Jeremy has worked for several years as a clinical psychologist. He has qualifications and experience in health management and administration, and has worked for the NSW Health Department, the Centre for Eating & Dieting Disorders (CEDD), the National Eating Disorder Collaboration (NEDC).

A Distinguished Achievement in the Field of Eating Disorders Award is awarded annually to recognise a distinguished contribution of an ANZAED member in one or more of the fields related to eating disorders, such as research, clinical practice, education/administration and advocacy. The 2019 Distinguished Achievement in the Field of Eating Disorders award was won by Tracey Wade.
Tracey has worked as a clinician in the area of eating disorders for almost 30 years and her current research interests are in the aetiology, prevention and treatment of eating disorders. She was awarded the Australian Psychological Society (APS) Early Career Award on 2003, in 2015 she was elected a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, in 2016 she was made an Inaugural Honorary Fellow of the Australian Association for Cognitive and Behaviour Therapy, in 2017-18 she was the president of the Eating Disorder Research Society, and in 2018 she was appointed to the Expert Advisory Panel, Million Minds, a Federal mental health research mission. She is currently an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Eating Disorders. More recently she has developed a body of research in the area of perfectionism, co-authoring 2 books on the treatment of perfectionism. She has over 190 publications in peer reviewed journals.

The winner of the ANZAED 2018 Distinguished Achievement Award in the Field of Eating Disorders was Dr. Lisa Miller. Dr Miller has made significant contributions to changes in the treatment landscape in Western Australia. For over ten years Dr Miller has been the leading advocate for improved services for those with eating disorders. Lisa was a pioneer, providing specialist input to people who were admitted into medical wards. She developed a devoted team who learned how to provide compassionate, best-practice informed treatment. As a result of her leadership and constant pressure on senior administrators, a business case was written and we received funding to create WAEDOCS, the Western Australia Eating Disorder Outreach and Consultation Service. Lisa’s passion for her work is contagious, and her dedication to advocating for patients and providing best practice care for all is exemplary and is a leader in the field in that state, having advocated for treatment services at a level of contribution well above what would be expected in her role.

This award was presented to Warren Ward by President Beth Shelton on Saturday 2nd September in recognition of the major contributions he has made to clinical treatment research and governance in field of Eating Disorders. Warren has worked tirelessly and successfully in the field of eating disorders and has established the Eating Disorders Outreach Service (EDOS) – now Queensland Eating Disorder Services (QuEDS), a comprehensive service incorporating inpatient beds, a day program and outpatient program and a statewide outreach and upskilling mechanism throughout Queensland for people treating eating disorders. Warren has been a dynamic and thoughtful member of the ANZAED Executive, a past Secretary and initiator of the ANZAED Social Media Committee program.

The 2016 awards was presented to Anthea Fursland by President Beth Shelton, in recognition of Anthea’s tireless and passionate works in the field of eating disorders carried out over her significant career.

A Distinguished Achievement in the Field of Eating Disorders Award is awarded annually to recognise a distinguished contribution of an ANZAED member in one or more of the fields related to eating disorders, such as research, clinical practice, education/administration and advocacy. The 2015 Distinguished Achievement in the Field of Eating Disorders award was won by EDASA co-founders Loraine House and Kate Parsons
Loraine and Kate established EDASA together in 2012 in order to bring South Australia in line with every other state in Australia by providing a stand-alone service providing support, information and advocacy to people experiencing an eating disorder and their friends and family. As an unfunded organisation with an uncertain future, Loraine and Kate have continued to defy the odds with unwavering determination and passion towards fulfilling EDASA’s vision to reduce the incidence, severity and associated stigma of eating disorders in our community.
Nominations
Who may be nominated?
Any ANZAED member, with the exception of a member of the Executive may be nominated for these awards
Nomination procedures:
Nominations must be made by any ANZAED member and emailed to the Secretary c/- anzaed@anzaed.org.au
Being a special award, self-nominations are not accepted and the Nominee should not be informed of their nomination.
In making a nomination, please provide the following information:
- The name of the Nominee; and
- A 500-word (max) Case for the Nomination
- A 600-word (max) biographical outline (i.e., career summary) of the Nominee, dot points are acceptable; and
- The name and contact details of one (1) person who has agreed to be a referee for the Nominee and who is not the Nominator.
Adjudication
Eligibility, including ANZAED membership status, will be verified by ANZAED prior to the full review of nominations. All eligible nominations will be reviewed by a panel of no fewer than 3 reviewers.
- The panel will be selected by the ANZAED Secretary, liaising with the Development Director, and if necessary, with the Policies and Procedures committee members.
- Panel members will be ANZAED members who occupy senior positions in the field of eating disorders (e.g., research, clinical, advocacy)
- Panel members will not be selected if they have identified conflicts of interest with the Nominee
- The Panel Chair will be the ANZAED President, unless conflicts of interest with the Nominee(s) exist. In the latter situation, the Chair will be an Office Bearer of the ANZAED Executive Committee who does not have a conflict of interest with Nominee(s).
- Panel members will independently review and score the applications according to the Selection Criteria and then collectively discuss their individual scores to determine a consensus position to rank order applicants from highest to lowest scoring. (For DA Award)
Announcement
The award will be announced at the Annual General Meeting by the President.