Public Science Seminar with Professor Kate Tchanturia MBE, Dr Karri Gillespie-Smith and Dr Fiona Duffy
For this Public Science Seminar, Professor Kate Tchanturia MBE, Dr Karri Gillespie-Smith and Dr Fiona Duffy spoke about their research on autism and eating disorders.
Recording of the seminar
About the projects
Eating disorders often co-exist alongside other mental health conditions and neurodevelopmental considerations, including autism. Despite this, there has been very little research into the overlap between the two, leading to poorer treatment outcomes for people with autism. We need to better understand what it’s like to be an Autistic person with an eating disorder, what makes some Autistic people more vulnerable to eating disorders than others, the mechanisms that underpin this, and potential targets for intervention.
We've helped to fund ground-breaking research by Professor Kate Tchanturia MBE from King’s College London, which has led to the development of PEACE (a ‘Pathway for Eating disorders and Autism developed from Clinical Experience’), a pioneering new clinical pathway. We have also partly funded Dr Karri Gillespie-Smith and Dr Fiona Duffy from the University of Edinburgh to build on this. They host a new interdisciplinary network hosted in Scotland, increasing research capacity and with the ultimate aim of improving the lives of people with an eating disorder and autism.