UAB Psychologist to Speak at the First Binge Eating Disorder Association Conference

A University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) psychologist who specializes in eating disorders and obesity will speak at the first meeting of the Binge Eating Disorder Association (BEDA), set for March 4-6 in Baltimore.

   March 2, 2010

Mary Boggiano. Download image.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) psychologist who specializes in eating disorders and obesity will speak at the first meeting of the Binge Eating Disorder Association (BEDA), set for March 4-6 in Baltimore.

Mary Boggiano, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the UAB Department of Psychology who is exploring brain markers of stress-induced binge eating and the chemistry behind the action of foods high in fat and sugar to trigger relapses in binge eating and obesity.

BEDA, founded in 2008, is an international, multidisciplinary organization focused on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of binge-eating disorder. Binge-eating disorder is characterized as a compulsion to eat excessive amounts of food - sometimes up to 20,000 calories - in a short period of time. It affects an estimated 3.5 percent of American women and 2 percent of American men have a binge-eating disorder, according to BEDA.

The BEDA conference offers professionals who treat individuals with binge-eating disorder the latest information on evidenced-based treatment models. On Friday, March 5, Boggiano, a member of BEDA's Scientific Advisory Board, will deliver an address, "Animal Models of Binge-Eating: New Insights for Binge Eating Disorder" and later present an overview of her research.

Other session topics will include the promotion of healthy body image, the role of nutrition in treating binge-eating disorder and the effect of emphasizing body-mass index in health-care reform on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of binge-eating disorder. For more information about the conference, visit www.bedaonline.com.

About the UAB Department of Psychology

The UAB Department of Psychology is recognized nationally for its significant contributions to cutting-edge research and scholarship and teaching. The department's undergraduate program is one of the largest majors on campus. The department also offers graduate programs in medical psychology, lifespan developmental psychology and behavioral neuroscience.