This application is for a """"""""Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award"""""""" (K23). The candidate, Marney A. White, Ph.D., has a programmatic interest in disordered eating and obesity. Dr.
White aims - as a junior faculty member at Yale - to acquire necessary skills to develop into an independent clinical-researcher in the field of eating and weight problems. The training and research plan enlists the mentorship and collaboration of Carlos M. Grilo, Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Eating Disorders Research Program, and Stephanie S. O'Malley, Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Division of Substance Abuse Research. The mentors - along with nationally recognized consultants - will assist Dr. White in integrating and maximizing the training and research plans. Dr. White's specific training development goals proposed for the K23 are to: 1) Complete advanced training in biostatistics and epidemiology, and 2) Receive training and experience in conducting clinical trials. The research plan for this application consists of four interrelated studies designed to: 1) Employ taxometric and Grade of Membership analyses to test the dimensional versus categorical nature and diagnostic features of binge eating disorder (BED) and related diagnostic constructs, 2) Identify patient factors influencing treatment outcome for BED, 3) Investigate common mechanisms of cravings in binge eating and cigarette smoking, and 4) Conduct a placebo-controlled trial for bupropion in the treatment of BED. Together, these studies will inform the development of a larger-scale treatment outcome study of the efficacy of pharmacological agents in the treatment of BED. The proposed research has potential to inform our understanding of the nature of disordered eating and to enhance our understanding of the longer term effects of treatments. Together, the training and research plan will prepare the candidate to meet intermediate-term career goals of securing funding as an independent investigator to conduct large-scale clinical trials for disordered eating and obesity.
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