Psychiatric and Psychological Faculty
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Walter H. Kaye, M.D.Director, Eating Disorders Treatment and Research Program "Anorexia nervosa has the highest rate of death of any psychiatric illness. We are now beginning to understand why people develop these disorders, and we are using this information to develop more effective treatment." Dr. Walter Kaye was recruited to the UC San Diego faculty from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where he was research director of the eating disorder program, and where he received a NIMH senior scientist award. Dr. Kaye’s current research is focused on exploring the relationship between brain and behavior using brain imaging and genetics, and developing and applying new treatments for anorexia and bulimia nervosa. |
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Terry Schwartz, M.D.Clinical Director, Eating Disorders Programs Terry Schwartz is the Clinical Director of the UCSD Eating Disorders Programs. She has over 15 years of extensive experience in working with eating disorders, as well as providing Eating Disorders treatment trainings at multiple university and county facilities. She is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the UCSD Medical School. From 1997 through 2005, she served as Associate Medical Director at UCSD Outpatient Psychiatric Services, and Medical Director for the UCSD Co-Occurring Disorders Program. She continues to be actively involved in the training of psychiatry residents, psychology interns, and other trainees. From 1999-2004, she served as chairman of the San Diego County Mental Health “Psychopharmacology of Co-Occurring Disorders” Committee. She received her MD from the University of California, San Diego, in 1993, and completed her residency in psychiatry at UCSD. She has been named by San Diego Magazine (voted by peers) as one of the Top Doctors in San Diego. |
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Mary Ellen Trunko, M.D.Medical Director, Adult Programs Eating Disorders Treatment and Research Program Dr. Mary Ellen Trunko has worked with the UCSD eating disorders program since its inception, and has been involved in planning and development of services, delivery of patient care, and supervision and teaching of junior staff members. As assistant clinical professor and medical director, Dr. Trunko performs comprehensive psychiatric evaluations, handles medication management, coordinates primary care and other medical services, and educates patients and their families on physiological, medical and psychological aspects of eating disorders. She also runs an outpatient practice that includes individuals with eating disorders as well as those with general psychiatric needs. Dr. Trunko is board certified in both psychiatry and internal medicine, an unusual combination that is highly relevant to the understanding and treatment of eating disorders. She has used this specialty knowledge to advise primary care providers on the care of eating-disordered patients through presentations and consultation. She has written review papers and clinical case reports on pharmacological interventions for eating disorders. Dr. Trunko earned her MD degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, and completed separate residencies in internal medicine and psychiatry at UCSD. |
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Danielle Haber, M.D.Assistant Clinical Professor Dr. Danielle Haber has worked in the UCSD Department of Psychiatry since 2002 and as Associate Director of the UCSD OCD Program since 2008. She joined the UCSD Adolescent Eating Disorders Program in early 2012. Dr. Haber has more than 20 years of experience as a child and adolescent psychiatrist and has had a special interest in eating disorders throughout her clinical career. Dr. Haber is an Associate Clinical Professor at UCSD and participates in the teaching and supervision of psychiatry residents. She is board certified in both Adult Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Dr. Haber performs psychiatric evaluations, medication management, and provides the psychiatric input to the team of clinicians working with the Adolescent ED patients. She continues to maintain a focus on psychodynamics, biological psychiatry and on evidence based treatments. She recently completed a three year training program in Intensive Short Term Dynamic Psychotherapy. In addition to her work with the adolescents in the UCSD ED Program, she has a private practice of psychiatry in San Diego. She received her MD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, NY and completed both her Psychiatry Residency and her Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at UCLA. |
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Christina Wierenga, Ph.D.Assistant Professor Dr. Wierenga is an assistant professor and licensed clinical neuropsychologist at the UCSD Eating Disorders Program. She received her doctorate in clinical psychology with a specialization in neuropsychology, neurorehabilitation, and clinical neuroscience from the University of Florida and completed an NIH postdoctoral fellowship at UCSD in biological psychiatry and neuroscience. Dr. Wierenga’s clinical practice has focused on children, adolescents, and adults with a wide range of psychological and neurological disorders. She sees patients in the eating disorders program for family based, individual, and group treatment of anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder and EDNOS. Her research focuses on treatment development and brain functioning in ill and recovered adolescents and adults with eating disorders. She uses innovative functional neuroimaging and neuropsychological methods to examine the neurobiology of eating disorders. Dr. Wierenga is also actively involved in training graduate students, interns and postdoctoral fellows. |
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Joyce A. Adams, M.D.Professor of Clinical Pediatrics Joyce A. Adams, MD is a Professor of Clinical Pediatrics with the UCSD Department of Pediatrics, Division of General Academic Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. She has been a full time faculty member in Adolescent Medicine at UCSD since November, 1994, and has developed a special interest and expertise in treating children, teens, and young adults with eating disorders. She has been named in “Best Doctors in America” 4 times since 2005 and was named “San Diego’s Best Doctors” in 2011. Dr. Adams regularly attends workshops on eating disorder medical management at the annual meeting of the Society for Adolescent Medicine (SAM) and teaches at local conferences adolescent eating disorders. She is a member of SAM’s Special Interest Group on Eating Disorders, and participates in listserv discussions on issues in medical management. Dr. Adams has been involved in evaluating and treating patients with eating disorders for the past ten years. Prior to the opening of the Medical West Medical/Behavioral Unit, she admitted 4 to 5 patients every year to Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego, if they meet the criteria for medical hospitalization. Medical care includes monitored re-feeding, and cardiac monitoring. She developed a protocol for assessing and monitoring patients who are dehydrated, seriously malnourished, have very low resting heart rates or orthostatic changes in pulse or blood pressure. Dr. Adams also provides medical assessments and follow-up for patients who need those services prior to beginning the Intensive Family Therapy program at the UCSD Eating Disorders Program and those patients in an outpatient program who become medically unstable. |
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Kerri Boutelle, Ph.D.Psychological Services and Training Director Eating Disorders Treatment and Research Program Dr. Kerri Boutelle joined the UC San Diego Faculty from the University of Minnesota, where she was the Director of a child and adolescent eating disorder and obesity program and created and researched treatments for children who are overweight. Dr. Boutelle has been working with youth and young adults who have weight or eating related issues for over 12 years. Dr. Boutelle is the Behavioral Director of the Weight and Wellness Clinic, a clinic for youth (and their families) who struggle with their weight, and leads parenting groups and provides individual and family therapy. Dr. Boutelle also sees patients in the eating disorder program for family based and individual treatment of anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder and EDNOS. Dr. Boutelle's current research is focused on parenting children to reduce weight, parent and child skills for reducing binge eating, and epidemiological studies regarding adolescents who have been successful in weight loss. |
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