Laura A. Berner, M.S.
Graduate Student
College of Arts and Sciences (COAS)
Eating Disorders Research Society 18th Annual
Meeting, Porto, Portugal
With the support of an Office of International
Programs International Travel Award, I was able
to attend the 18th annual meeting of the Eating
Disorders Research Society (EDRS) in Porto,
Portugal. The EDRS is an international
organization of top eating-disorder and obesity
researchers who meet annually to present and
discuss the most recent findings in the field.
Of particular interest to me, a large number of the presentations and posters at this year’s EDRS meeting
focused on neuroimaging and neuropsychological functioning in individuals with eating and weight
disorders. Learning about these ongoing, cutting-edge studies enriched my understanding of brainbehavior relations in eating and weight disorders and inspired future research projects I hope to conduct
in my post-doctoral career. This experience also informed my research at Drexel, including my
dissertation, which combines neuropsychological tasks and neuroimaging in the study of bulimia
nervosa, and a new study I am helping to conduct examining neuropsychological functioning among
treatment-seeking obese individuals. In fact, consultation with a researcher from the Netherlands, who
presented findings of inhibitory-control deficits in obese children, was invaluable in refining our protocol
at Drexel.
Eating disorder neuroimaging research is conducted by very few individuals, and the EDRS attracts the
leading neuro-focused, eating disorder researchers in the world. As a result, I had the opportunity to
receive feedback from true experts on the paradigm I developed to examine prefrontal neural activity,
as measured by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIR), during a standard and a novel eating
inhibitory control task. Many of these researchers were particularly interested in the unique promise
afforded by the Drexel-developed technology for bio-behaviorally understanding eating disorders. My
attendance at the conference also allowed me to discuss with these experts the related additional aims
of my recently awarded Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) F31 grant, further
refining my research ideas for next steps in my post-doctoral work.
I was honored to internationally represent Drexel, and I am very much looking forward to the exciting
future research that my experience attending this prestigious conference informed and inspired.