Conference Program

2026 Symposia Program


Shaping the future of eating disorder care: The role of clinical quality registries

Chair: Deborah Mitchison, Graduate School of Health, University of Technology Sydney

Improving outcomes from eating disorders (EDs) is a shared priority among researchers, clinicians and people with lived experience of EDs. Clinical quality registries (CQRs) may be one route to achieving this improvement. These registries systematically collect data to evaluate the quality, safety and outcomes of care delivered across services. Registries can use natural variations in treatments to identify areas of best practice and areas requiring improvement. Large-scale longitudinal datasets can support data-driven precision treatment approaches. Benchmarking data and feedback mechanisms allow participating services, health system managers, and policy makers to learn from the registry and improve outcomes. CQRs are also bridging the research translation gap, by providing infrastructure and cost savings for real world clinical trials and implementation studies. This symposium aims to outline the current state of ED CQRs; possible benefits for quality improvement and clinical research; and areas of opportunity for international collaboration.

  1. The current state of clinical quality registries for eating disorders: Evidence, implementation and impact - Karina Allen, UK
  2. Leveraging measurement-based care and multi-axial clinical quality registries to drive precision medicine - Nicole Obeid, CAN
  3. Leveraging clinical quality registries as core infrastructure to effect a step-change in research translation to practice - Deborah Mitchison, AUS
  4. Towards an international clinical quality registry for eating disorders - Marion Roberts, NZ

Rethinking Eating Disorders: Bold New Targets, Treatments, and Technologies

Chair: Aaron Keshen, MD (Symposium Chair); Dalhousie University/Nova Scotia Health, Canada

a. EDRS 2026 focuses on New Treatments and Services for Eating Disorders, reflecting the urgent need to move beyond current guidelines by integrating mechanistic science with therapeutic innovation. Despite advances in psychotherapy and service delivery, many patients continue to experience incomplete response, relapse, and persistent medical and psychiatric morbidity. This symposium brings together leading investigators to examine emerging biological, nutritional, and neuromodulatory interventions that bridge behavior and neurobiology. Dr. Aaron Keshen (Chair) will open by outlining the rationale for innovative biological approaches in eating disorder care, emphasizing how advances in neurobiology may inform next-generation interventions. He will also highlight recent work on glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, including an international Delphi-based consensus initiative examining potential clinical applications, key risks, and resulting clinical and research recommendations.

  1. Brain Energy Metabolism as a Transdiagnostic Treatment Target in Eating Disorders - Guido Frank, US
  2. Neuromodulation in Eating Disorders - D Blake Woodside, CAN
  3. Translational Science to Develop Mechanism Based Pharmacotherapy for Anorexia Nervosa - Joanna Steinglass, US

Working across the age divide: Treatment innovations for adolescents and emerging adults with anorexia nervosa

  1. Efficacy of MANTRa compared to treatment as usual in adolescents and young adults with anorexia nervosa in Austria. - Gudrun Wagner, A
  2. Family therapy for AN across the age span. - Julian Baudinet, UK
  3. A randomised sham-controlled feasibility trial of intermittent theta burst stimulation for young people with persistent anorexia nervosa: the RaISE trial. – Amelia Hemmings, UK
  4. Home treatment (HoT) is more effective than weight-restoring inpatient treatment (IP) in adolescent anorexia nervosa (AN) – results of a large multicenter RCT at one year follow-up – Beate Herpertz-Dahlmann, D