Kristin Bohn, DClinPsy, DPhil, Dipl-Psych
HCPC registered and BPS Chartered Clinical Psychologist
I am a Chartered Clinical Psychologist and currently run a private practice delivering CBT-E in Oxford. I have worked with people with eating disorders for the past 18 years, both in the NHS and at the Centre for Research on Eating Disorders at Oxford (CREDO).
From 2001-2015 I worked at CREDO as a Trial Therapist and a Senior Research Clinician, contributing to the development of CBT-E and working on the creation of the web-based training programme for clinicians. During that time I also completed my PhD, which focused on the devastating impact that eating disorders have on sufferers’ lives. My doctoral research led to the creation and the development of the Clinical Impairment Assessment (CIA), a self-report measure now routinely used in NHS eating disorder services and in clinical settings abroad.
I also have extensive experience of delivering CBT-E within the NHS, as a manager, trainer, supervisor, and therapist.
Simona Calugi, PhD
Clinical Research Director, Department of Eating and Weight Disorders, Villa Garda Hospital
President of Associazione Italiana Disturbi dell’Alimentazione e del Peso (AIDAP)
I am clinical research director of the Department of Eating and Weight Disorders at Villa Garda Hospital. In this department, in collaboration with Dr. Riccardo Dalle Grave and Professor Christopher Fairburn, I have evaluated the efficacy and effectiveness of intensive enhanced cognitive behavior therapy (CBT-E) and outpatient CBT-E for adults and adolescents.
My current research focus is evaluating CBT-E in the treatment of adult and adolescent patients with eating disorders who are significantly underweight, both in outpatient and inpatient settings, and to study the specific and external maintenance mechanisms of eating disorders psychopathology.
I am in the teaching faculty of the Italian Master on Treatment and Prevention of Eating Disorders and Obesity. I teach CBT-E in several Italian cognitive behavioral psychotherapy schools, and provide expert CBT-E supervision for clinical services in Italy. I also have extensive clinical experience in delivering outpatient CBT-E to adolescent and adult patients with eating disorders.
Zafra Cooper, DPhil, DipClinPsych
Professor of Psychiatry, Yale Medical School, Yale University
Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of Oxford
From 1991 to 2015 I was jointly responsible for the management and administration of the Centre for Research on Eating Disorders at Oxford (CREDO) based in the University’s Department of Psychiatry. The Centre pursued a program of research funded by a series of Wellcome Trust Program Grants. The work addressed various aspects of eating disorders, including their diagnosis and classification, their characterisation and measurement, their distribution, aetiology and course, and most importantly their treatment. Between 2000 and 2015 funded by a Strategic Award from the Wellcome Trust, I jointly established the Centre for Research on Dissemination and directed the research on clinician training in evidence-based treatment and the development of measures of therapist competence. Since 2016 I have been based at Yale School of Medicine continuing my research on the early identification of eating disorders, the dissemination of psychological treatments and the measurement of therapist competence. In addition I am investigating the occurrence of eating disorders comorbid with other disorders and ways of modifying treatments to take account of these comorbidities.
My work has led to the development of the transdiagnostic theory and treatment for the full range of eating disorders, enhanced cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT-E), and the development of a psychological treatment for obesity with particular emphasis on the processes involved in weight regain after intentional weight loss. It has also led to the development of the most widely used interview for the assessment of eating disorder psychopathology – the Eating Disorder Examination (EDE). As part of my work on dissemination and training, I have devised and tested measures of therapist competence (in CBT-E) including the first scalable online measure. Most recently I have been collaborating with Vikram Patel and colleagues to apply a similar methodology to devise a scalable measure of competence for lay counsellors who will be delivering psychological interventions for common mental disorders in India.
I have provided expert clinical supervision in CBT-E for clinical and research groups in Europe, the USA and Japan.
Riccardo Dalle Grave, MD
Director, Department of Eating and Weight Disorders, Villa Garda Hospital. Garda (Vr) Italy
I am director of the Department of Eating and Weight Disorders at Villa Garda Hospital. In this department, in collaboration with Professor Christopher Fairburn, I have developed an original inpatient treatment for eating disorders based entirely on enhanced cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT-E), and an adaptation of CBT-E for adolescents with eating disorders.
My current focus is on evaluating CBT-E in the treatment of adult and adolescent patients with eating disorders who are significantly underweight, both in outpatient and inpatient settings. I also have a particular interest in the processes that are responsible for weight regain (following intentional weight loss) and treatment failure in those with obesity.
In 1997 I founded the First Certificate of Professional Training in Eating Disorders and Obesity, that in 2017 was converted in the Italian Master on Treatment and Prevention of Eating Disorders and Obesity. This one-year course, that is now at the 21th cohort, trains medical doctors, psychologists, and dietitians in cognitive behaviour therapy for eating disorders and obesity. I provide expert CBT-E supervision for clinical services in Europe, the USA, Australia, and Dubai.
Christopher Fairburn, MA, BM, BCh, DM, MPhil
Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, University of Oxford
I have been engaged in clinical research since 1981, initially funded by the Medical Research Council and subsequently by the Wellcome Trust (1984-2017). Between 2007 and 2011, I was a Governor of the Wellcome Trust, and from 2011 to 2016, I was a founder trustee of the mental health research charity MQ: Transforming Mental Health.
My work has led to the development of three treatments for eating disorders. The first is a cognitive behavioural treatment for bulimia nervosa. This was the first psychological treatment to be endorsed by England’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). The second is a self-help treatment for people with recurrent binge eating. This is designed to be used either on its own or accompanied by a scalable form of support termed “guided self-help”. The third treatment is transdiagnostic in its clinical range and is termed “enhanced cognitive behaviour therapy” or CBT-E. In 2015 NHS England and the Chief Medical Officer recommended that this treatment be made available for all patients with an eating disorder, whatever their eating disorder diagnosis and whatever their age, and in 2017 it was endorsed by NICE.
My most recent research focus is on the conversion of therapist-delivered psychological treatments into scalable digital interventions, either delivered on their own or with remote support. I have been collaborating with Vikram Patel and colleagues in India who are developing psychological interventions for common mental disorders suitable for delivery by lay counsellors.
Rebecca Murphy, DClinPsych
Deputy-Director, The Centre for Research on Eating Disorders at Oxford (CREDO)
Senior Research Clinician, University of Oxford
Honorary Clinical Psychologist, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
CREDO University of Oxford Web Page
Twitter @rebeccamurphyox
I have both a clinical and research interest in enhanced CBT for eating disorders (CBT-E). This began when I delivered CBT-E as a trial therapist for several years at CREDO, under the supervision of Christopher Fairburn and Zafra Cooper. During this time, I took a particular interest in the mediators of change in psychological treatments. More recently, the focus of my work has been on disseminating CBT-E. This began with the development and evaluation of more scalable methods of training clinicians to deliver evidence-based psychological treatments. This has included the development of an online training programme for therapists learning CBT-E and a role-play based measure of therapist competence. Since then, I have turned my attention to reaching people with eating disorders more directly. Currently, I am leading the development and evaluation of Digital CBTe, a self-help programme for bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder which is delivered online (via a website and a mobile application). This has been derived from CBT-E and its associated printed self-help programme (Overcoming Binge Eating). In addition, I provide training and supervision in CBT-E to various clinical groups in the UK and worldwide.
All of my work has been carried out in collaboration with my colleagues at CREDO and a wider network of CBT-E colleagues. Most of my work has been funded by the Wellcome Trust. More recent research support has been provided by Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre and ongoing access to our online training programme is funded by Health Education England in partnership with Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. More recently I have been responsible for the management of the Centre for Research on Eating Disorders at Oxford (CREDO) based in the University’s Department of Psychiatry. Together with Suzanne Straebler, Riccardo Dalle Grave and Zafra Cooper, we have founded the CBT for eating disorders special interest group for the Academy of Eating Disorders. Further, I am an associate editor of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy and am on the editorial committee for the Italian Journal of Eating Disorders and Obesity.
Massimiliano Sartirana, PsyD
Clinical Director, Associazione Disturbi Alimentari (ADA), Verona
I am clinical director of the Associazione Disturbi Alimentari (ADA) at Verona. In this clinical center, in collaboration with Dr. Riccardo Dalle Grave, I deliver intensive and outpatient enhanced cognitive behavior therapy (CBT-E) for adolescents and adults with eating disorders, and I supervise the clinical outpatient CBT-E team.
I am in the teaching faculty of the Italian Master on Treatment and Prevention of Eating Disorders and Obesity. I teach CBT-E in several Italian cognitive behavioral psychotherapy schools, and I provide expert CBT-E supervision for clinical services in Italy. I wrote four books in Italian on CBT-E for eating disorders, clinical perfectionism and low self-esteem.
Suzanne Straebler, PhD, PMHNP-BC
Director, Center for Eating Disorders Partial Hospital Program, NY-Presbyterian/ Weill Cornell Medicine
Research Associate in Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College
Assistant Professor, Columbia University Medical Center
For over a decade I worked as a Senior Research Clinician at the Centre for Eating Disorders at Oxford (CREDO) under Christopher Fairburn and Zafra Cooper. While there I helped to further develop CBT-E and investigate ways to improve access to CBT-E through investigating and increasing clinician training. In 2015 I completed my doctorate focused on this entitled: Towards Scalable Training: Narrowing the Research-Practice Gap in the Treatment of Eating Disorders.
Currently I serve as the Director of the Center for Eating Disorders Partial Hospital Program, NY-Presbyterian/ Weill Cornell Medicine. The main goal of my work is to provide and research day program treatment and intensive outpatient treatment centered on CBT-E. I have modelled our program based on the work of Riccardo Dalle Grave. In addition, I provide expert training and supervision in CBT-E and host an online peer support supervision group. Together with Rebecca Murphy I founded and co-chair the CBT for eating disorders special interest group for the Academy of Eating Disorders.