KENTUCKY: INBRE research receives funding for eating disorders research
KY INBRE-funded researcher Cheri Levinson, University of Louisville, and research partner Christina Ralph-Nearman, received a $125,000 grant from the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) to further develop a virtual reality technology aimed at treating eating disorders. Awaken Emerse, a UofL prototype technology, helps users virtually face and overcome their associated fears, such as the fear of gaining weight.
The NEDA grant comes on the heels of some $11.5 million in funding from the NIH to support Levinson’s work to better understand and address some of the most devastating effects of eating disorders. That research will investigate how eating disorders may develop in childhood and adolescence, their contribution to suicidal behaviors and how innovative personalized treatments, like VR simulation, may offer hope.
“Research shows exposure treatment can be really effective in taking back control over these devastating and life-altering fears,” said Christina Ralph-Nearman, a UofL College of Arts and Sciences assistant research professor, researcher and co-inventor of the technology. “Our virtual simulation allows people to do that in a safe way.”
“Eating disorders don’t just affect one type of person — there are a multitude of factors that can influence them,” said Levinson, associate professor and director of the Eating Anxiety Treatment (EAT) Lab. “Treatment and prevention options should reflect that full range of experience.”