About this course

Learning Objectives

• Analyze statistics about incidence of eating disorders in males, including subgroups such as ethnic and sexual minority groups.
• Analyze how EDs present in males versus how they present in females and how this may impact clinical interventions.
• Identify specific pressures that influence the development of eating disorders in males that are both similar and distinct from their female counterparts.

Learning Levels

• Advanced

Course Instructor(s)

• 

  Amy Boyers, PhD

  Director of Adolescent Services, Oliver Pyatt Centers

  Dr. Amy Boyers is the co-founder and President of Galen Hope, which provides mental health, eating disorder, and dual diagnosis treatment for adults and teens in Coral Gables, Florida. Galen Hope emphasizes community integration, support for families, and building a sense of connection and belonging as essential to healing.

  Dr. Boyers was in private practice in Miami from 2001 to 2022, where she provided therapy to adolescents and adults, with a focus on women’s health, eating disorders, anxiety and mood disorders, and behavioral medicine. During this time, she also served as a Senior Clinical Consultant for Oliver Pyatt Centers in South Miami, FL where she also co-created the Clementine program for Adolescent Girls with eating disorders.

  After graduating with honors from the University of Pennsylvania, she was awarded a prestigious U.S. Department of Defense psychological research fellowship at the University of Miami, where she completed her masters and doctoral degrees. She completed her pre-doctoral internship at the University of Miami Counseling Center, and a post-doctoral residency at the Renfrew Center, where she was a primary therapist in their intensive outpatient program for eating disorders. During a second residency at University of Miami, she served as the primary therapist on an NCI-funded research project studying cognitive-behavioral stress management and relaxation training for breast cancer survivors.

  Dr. Boyers is volunteer faculty at the University of Miami Counseling Center and University of Miami Miller School of Medicine-Department of Psychiatry and has spoken locally and nationally on the topics of eating disorders, stress, trauma, and adolescent development. She has also co-authored several articles in professional journals. She was the founding president of the Miami Chapter of the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals (IAEDP) and served on the national board.

References

• Brown, T. A., & Keel, P. K. (2023). Eating disorders in boys and men. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 19(1), 177-205. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-080921-074125
• Coelho, J. S., Lee, T., Karnabi, P., Burns, A., Marshall, S., Geller, J., & Lam, P. Y. (2018). Eating disorders in biological males: clinical presentation and consideration of sex differences in a pediatric sample. Journal of eating disorders, 6(1), 40. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-018-0226-y
• Spratt, C. J., MacKenzie Myles, L. A., & Merlo, E. M. (2022). Eating disorders in men: a comprehensive summary. Journal of Mind and Medical Sciences, 9(2), 28. https://doi.org/10.22543/2392-7674.1362