News Fall 2024

FREE:
Didactic Series Integrates Mental and Physical Health
Tuesdays – 3:30 p.m.

To address patient needs holistically, behavioral health support should go hand in hand with medical treatment. As part of Princeton Health’s commitment to whole-person health, Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center recently launched a behavioral medicine didactics series that provides insight on the biopsychosocial model of illness, integrating social, psychological, and biological aspects of health and disease. This free series has been created especially for health psychology and social work trainees and early-career clinicians.

Facilitated by Rebecca Boswell, PhD, Director of Princeton Center for Eating Disorders and Administrative Director of Psychiatric Services at Princeton Medical Center, the series imparts an added layer of expertise in behavioral health that ultimately benefits patients at various stages of their health care journey. Experts from Princeton Health and leading universities across the country will present a broad range of topics, such as building integrated behavioral health programs, eating disorders 101, and using DBT with patients who have cancer.

To learn more about topics, speakers, and dates, visit princetonhouse.org/events.

A Deepening Involvement with Esteemed Organizations

Princeton Center for Eating Disorders has joined REDC, a national consortium representing eating disorders care focused on standards, policy, research, and best practices. Through this membership, staff members will expand collaboration with other eating disorders professionals across the country in addressing issues, exploring research opportunities, and refining and setting standards of care. In June, Princeton Center for Eating Disorders Director Rebecca Boswell, PhD and psychiatrist Kristyn Pecsi, MD presented “Exploring Approaches to Treatment for Longstanding Eating Disorders” to the REDC Ethics Committee.

In addition, in expanding her membership role in the Academy for Eating Disorders (AED), Dr. Boswell was appointed as an Advisor to the AED Medical Care Standards Committee. As part of this new role, she will collaborate on the revision of the Medical Care Standards Guide over the next few years, helping to ensure that this global resource remains up to date and relevant.

Sharing Insights Internationally

Rebecca Boswell, PhD, Director of Princeton Center for Eating Disorders and Administrative Director of Psychiatric Services at Princeton Medical Center, recently presented “Biological, Psychological, and Social Impacts of GLP-1 Medications: Implications for Eating Disorder Care” at the Eating Disorders Research Society (EDRS) in Sitges, Spain. Dr. Boswell provided insight on how these innovative medications can be effective for people with diabetes and other medical conditions, yet how they can also be used inappropriately and exacerbate eating disorder pathology.

Dr. Boswell was also the lead author for a study on “Multiple marginalization, discrimination, and disordered eating among youth aged 10-11,” published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders. Data showed that youth with elevated weight reported experiencing multiple types of discrimination, and multiply marginalized youth had increased odds of disordered eating with each additional type of discrimination.