Executive Team

Walter H. Kaye, MD
Founder and Professor Emeritus
Walter H. Kaye, MD - photo

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.

Walter H. Kaye, M.D.

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.

Terry Schwartz, MD

Interim Chief of the Eating Disorders Division & Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry

Terry Schwartz, MD - photo

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.

Mary Ellen Trunko, MD

Medical Director

Clinical Professor, UCSD Department of Psychiatry

Mary Ellen Trunko, MD - photo

Dr. Mary Ellen Trunko, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, was one of the founding members of the UC San Diego Health Eating Disorders Center in 2005. Throughout the years and substantial growth of the organization, she has been a key member of the executive leadership team responsible for planning, developing, implementing and managing clinical services. As Medical Director of all adult, adolescent and pediatric treatment programs, Dr. Trunko leads the psychiatric/medical teams servicing PHP and IOP patients. She oversees all aspects of safety in the provision of care, performs comprehensive psychiatric evaluations and medication management, coordinates primary care and other medical services, and supervises and teaches junior faculty, staff and trainees. Dr. Trunko has been involved with clinical trials at the EDC investigating medication treatments for anorexia and bulimia, and is recognized nationally for her publications on pharmacological interventions for eating disorders.

Dr. Trunko earned her MD degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine. Following back-to-back residencies at UCSD in internal medicine and psychiatry, she became boarded in both specialties, an unusual combination that is highly relevant to the understanding and treatment of eating disorders.

Roxanne Rockwell, PhD

Assistant Clinical Director | Director of Adolescent Services | Associate Clinical Professor

Roxanne Rockwell, PhD - photo

Dr. Roxanne Rockwell serves as the Assistant Clinical Director of the UC San Diego Health Eating Disorders Center for Treatment and Research, Director of Adolescent Services and Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry. She has experience in the evaluation, treatment and research of eating disorders and obesity since 1999. She was one of the founding members of the UC San Diego Eating Disorders Center in 2005 and has been integrally involved in its development and expansion over the years. Dr. Rockwell played a primary role in devising and building the innovative individual and multi-family Intensive Family Therapy (IFT) programs as well as the adolescent partial hospital and intensive outpatient programs. As a certified Family Based Treatment (FBT) therapist, she served as the IFT program director for several years, and currently provides training and supervision in this modality for faculty, staff and trainees. Dr. Rockwell started the Eating Disorders Parent Advisory Council (PAC) and parent peer mentorship program in 2012 which continues to be a valued component of the multifamily program. University wide, she serves as a LEAD Fellow and Diversity Champion for the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at UC San Diego.

Leslie Anderson, PhD

Clinical Professor, Assistant Clinical Director & Training Director

Leslie Anderson, PhD - photo

Dr. Leslie Karwoski Anderson is Clinical Professor, Assistant Clinical Director, and Training Director at the UC San Diego Eating Disorders Center. She has expertise in DBT, and is a DBT- Linehan Board of Certification, Certified Clinician™, and Trainer for Behavioral Tech. She has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Kansas, and completed her clinical internship at Duke University Medical Center. Before coming to UCSD, she held a clinical faculty appointment at the University of Washington, was a supervisor in Marsha Linehan's DBT training clinic, and was a staff psychologist at the DBT Center of Seattle. She currently oversees the training and clinical supervision of the UCSD EDC staff, and conducts individual, family and group therapy for anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder and EDNOS. Her research interests are in treatment development, evaluation, and outcomes, especially with regards to adaptations of DBT and FBT, and she has published many journal articles and two books in this area (including the Clinical Handbook of Complex and Atypical Eating Disorders). She frequently gives talks and workshops on DBT, eating disorders, suicidality, and related topics in the community and at national conferences. She is on the board of the Academy of Eating Disorders, and is the co-editor-in-chief of Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention.