麻豆果冻传媒

For Release: February 22, 2010

PALO ALTO, Calif.听鈥� Lucile Packard Children鈥檚 Hospital Stanford is gearing up for National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, Feb. 21 鈥� 27.听 The hospital's Comprehensive Eating Disorders Program is reaching out to Bay Area families to enhance knowledge of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and related diagnoses.

On Feb. 25 at 6:30 p.m., Packard Children's will host a community symposium, 鈥淚t鈥檚 Time to Talk About It,鈥澨� an event designed to help parents learn the warning signs of eating disorders and understand the process for seeking help when a child, adolescent or young adult needs treatment. "It鈥檚 a chance for parents to interact with experts whose work is dedicated to the treatment of eating disorders," said听 James Lock, MD, PhD, eating disorders researcher and director of psychiatric services in the听Comprehensive Eating Disorders Program. Lock is also a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

The symposium, including a question and answer session, will be held in the听Packard Children's auditorium听and feature presentations by hospital experts:

• Lock will present the latest treatment options for eating disorders, with emphasis on how families can help their child recover.
• Neville Golden, MD, division chief of adolescent medicine and professor of pediatrics at Stanford, will discuss the risks and warning signs of an eating disorder.
• Cynthia Kapphahn, MD, MPH,听medical director of the Comprehensive Eating Disorders Program, will explain the acute and chronic health impacts of eating disorders.
• Psychologist听 Kara Fitzpatrick, PhD, will present new insights into the neurobiological basis of eating disorders.

鈥淧ackard has a wealth of clinical and research experience in the treatment of children and adolescents with eating disorders鈥� said Golden, 鈥渁nd it鈥檚 important to share this information with the community."听Inpatient听and听outpatient treatment听at Packard Children鈥檚 includes diagnostic evaluation, medical management of complications, psychiatric evaluation and therapy, nutrition assessment and treatment, and coordination with the patient's school or work. Importantly, these services were recently extended to students of Stanford University in a new collaborative between the hospital and Stanford's Vaden Health Center.

"Eating disorders are prevalent on college campuses, and Stanford is no exception," said Kapphahn, who spearheaded the new partnership. Specialists from Packard Children's are now seeing eating disorder patients weekly at Vaden, and are collaborating with Vaden's medical staff to devise comprehensive treatment plans. Students requiring inpatient treatment are hospitalized in the Packard Children's inpatient unit at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View and can participate in research projects evaluating treatment methods. "Treating eating disorders is very complicated and best accomplished through a multi-disciplinary approach," said Robyn Tepper, MD, the director of medical services at Vaden Health Center. "Having access to the specialists from Packard Children鈥檚 gives us the opportunity to broaden our expertise and resources, and this is very important to our student population."

Authors

Robert Dicks
(650) 497-8364
rdicks@stanfordchildrens.org