Eating Disorders: Recognition, Screening, and Treatment/Webinar by Ellen Fitzsimmons-Craft, Ph.D.

On Tuesday, September 30, 2025, from 6:00 – 7:00 pm PT (8:00 – 9:00 pm CT) via Zoom, Dr. Ellen Fitzsimmons-Craft will present, “Eating Disorders: Recognition, Screening, and Treatment” (And How Technology Can Help) as part of the Alan Hu Foundation Mental Health Lecture Series.

Eating disorders are common, serious mental illnesses, but less than 20% of individuals with these problems ever receive treatment. In this talk, Dr. Ellen Fitzsimmons-Craft will review diagnoses and risk factors for eating disorders, signs and symptoms, the importance of screening and prevention, how to talk to loved ones who may be struggling, and options for treatment. Finally, Dr. Fitzsimmons-Craft will talk about her work harnessing technology to expand access to screening and care for eating disorders.

Xiaofang Chen, President of Alan Hu Foundation, is grateful to Three Valleys Community Foundation, and individual donors whose generosity supports the series. “We are able to present leading experts in mental health with the most up-to-date research and resources. In addition, we can reach a more diverse audience with simultaneous interpretation during live webinars in Chinese and Spanish,” explained Ms. Chen.

Dr. Ellen Fitzsimmons-Craft is an Associate Professor of Psychological & Brain Sciences and Psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis and is a licensed psychologist. She has established programmatic lines of research centering on the use of technology for eating disorder prevention and treatment, eating disorder screening, sociocultural, etiological, and maintenance factors for eating disorders, eating disorder recovery, and college mental health. Ultimately her work aims to disseminate evidence-based interventions from research to practice, as well as extend treatments in ways that will reach the large number of people in need of care for mental health problems but who are not receiving services. Dr. Fitzsimmons-Craft is passionate about increasing access to scalable, evidence-based mental health services, collaborating with numerous industry partners, non-profit organizations, and statewide groups in the U.S. to do so. Her work has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Eating Disorders Association, the Klingenstein Third Generation, and the Office on Women’s Health in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, amongst others. She has authored more than 150 peer-reviewed publications, and her work has been featured in high-profile media outlets including the New York Times, 60 Minutes, NPR, Wired, Forbes, and Scientific American.

The free webinar will be held on Tuesday, September 30, 2025, from 6:00 – 7:00 pm PT (8:00 – 9:00 pm CT) via Zoom. It will include 15 minutes for questions and answers following Dr. Fitzsimmons-Craft’s presentation. Please RSVP by September 29, 2025, at: https://alanhufoundation.org/ to receive the Zoom meeting link. Participants may join beginning at 5:45 pm PT/7:45 CT. The Mental Health Association for Chinese Communities at https://www.mhacc-usa.org will provide simultaneous Chinese interpretation. Live Spanish interpretation will also be available.

The Alan Hu Foundation was created by Xiaofang Chen and Chih-Ching Hu in memory of their son, Alan. He passed away due to mental disorders in 2018 at the age of 15. Their mission is to promote mental health, raise awareness and remove stigma surrounding psychiatric disorders, and to support fundamental research for cures.

For further information and to support the Alan Hu Foundation, please visit the website: https://alanhufoundation.org/helping