PERRY L. BELFER, Ph.D., Director. Dr. Belfer established Newton-Wellesley Eating Disorders and Behavioral Medicine in 1997. He previously co-founded the outpatient Eating Disorders and Behavioral Medicine Programs at Newton-Wellesley Hospital which he directed from their inception in 1984 to 1996. Dr. Belfer also has coordinated an outpatient anxiety disorders program at McLean Hospital, served as Senior Clinical Consultant at the McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School Eating Disorders Center, and coordinated health behavior risk reduction programs at Boston area hospitals.
Dr. Belfer holds a faculty appointment at Harvard Medical School and has published articles on behavioral medicine, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, group therapy and cognitive-behavior therapy. Dr. Belfer earned his doctorate in clinical psychology from the Catholic University of America in 1982, completed his clinical internship at the Boston V.A. Medical Center and post-doctoral training at McLean Hospital. Dr. Belfer's specialty areas include the treatment of eating disorders, chronic pain, coping with chronic illness, cognitive behavior therapy for anxiety disorders and time-limited group psychotherapy.
CHRISTINE A. ADAMS, PSY.D., Psychologist. Dr. Christine Adams comes to Newton Wellesley Eating Disorders & Behavioral Medicine with a wide range of experience in treating individuals with eating disorders, anxiety disorders, and depression. Dr. Adams earned her doctoral degree in 2004 from the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, and did post-doctoral training at the Behavioral Health Services of the New England Conservatory of Music and Salem State College. She went on to work at the Cambridge Eating Disorder Center. Prior to earning her degree Dr. Adams worked at the MGH Chelsea Health Center, Bedford VA Hospital, the Wayside Community Counseling Center, Simmons College Counseling Center, and Women’s Protective Services. Dr. Adams’ research experience includes work at Brandeis University Institute for Health Policy, the National Technical Center for Substance Abuse Needs Assessment, and the Trauma Center at HRI.
DEBORAH BARR, Ph.D., Psychologist. Dr. Deborah Barr comes to Newton Wellesley Eating Disorders & Behavioral Medicine with a wealth of experiences treating eating disordered individuals and patients with depression and anxiety disorders. Dr. Barr earned her doctoral degree in clinical psychology in 1990 from the New School for Social Research and received a post doctoral Master of Science in clinical psychopharmacology from the California School for Professional Psychology- Alliant and is recognized by The National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology. She was a psychological consultant to The Comprehensive Obesity Treatment Center, Department of Medicine, Cornell Medical Center, New York City and a consultant at the Cognitive Therapy Center of New York, founded and directed by Dr. Jeffrey Young. Before moving to Massachusetts Dr. Barr was in private practice for fifteen years in New York City.
WENDY EPSTEIN, Ph.D., Psychologist. Dr. Epstein is a graduate of the Advanced Training Program in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (ATP) and a postseminar psychoanalytic candidate at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. She has been in private practice in Brookline for almost 20 years, where she sees individuals and couples with a wide range of problems. Dr. Epstein received her Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1982, where she specialized in cognitive-behavioral therapy, completed her clinical internship at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center/Harvard Medical School (1983), and postdoctoral training at both the Massachusetts Mental Health Center (1984) and the Department of Psychiatry, Newton-Wellesley Hospital (1984). She has served in attending, clinical, and clinical-administrative capacities at Westwood Lodge and Beverly Hospitals.
ALLAHNA KAJ, LICSW, Clinical Social Worker. Ms. Kaj earned her M.S.W. in 2004 from Smith College School for Social Work and her B.A. in Psychology and Study of Religion from UMass-Boston in 2001. Ms. Kaj comes to Newton-Wellesley Eating Disorders & Behavioral Medicine with extensive training and experience in treating severe mood disorders using Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT). Ms. Kaj served as the DBT Coordinator at Valley Psychiatric Service in Springfield, MA, whose DBT consultation team consultant was Charles Swenson, MD of the Seattle based Behavioral Tech Transfer Group. Ms. Kaj continues to practice a skills-based approach to help individuals develop the capacity to manage distressing experiences and improve the overall quality of their lives. Ms. Kaj studied Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) at UMass Medical School’s Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society and clinical hypnosis with Dr. Daniel Brown as well as with Dr. Bruce Bynum at UMass-Amherst. Ms. Kaj is committed to working in ethnically, culturally and economically diverse communities, helping individuals establish sustainable lifestyles and overcome mood disorders, eating disorders, anxiety disorders, trauma, chronic pain and disability.
TINA KURYS, LICSW, Clinical Social Worker. Ms. Kurys earned her M.S.W. at Boston College in 1993 and completed her clinical training at the Brookline Community Mental Health Center. She completed a Behavioral Medicine Fellowship at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in 1994. Ms. Kurys has been on the clinical staff of Newton-Wellesley Eating Disorders and Behavioral Medicine since 1997. Ms. Kurys' specialty areas include treatment of eating disorders as well as substance abuse and dependence, coping with chronic illness/disability, coping with chronic pain and cognitive-behavioral therapies.
JENNIFER O’KEEFFE, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist. Dr. O’Keeffe earned her doctoral degree from the University of Utah in 1989. She comes to Newton Wellesley Eating Disorders & Behavioral Medicine with extensive training and experience in Eating Disorders and Behavioral Medicine having done her internship in Clinical Psychology at the Brown University Behavioral Medicine Consortium, her post-doctoral training at the Massachusetts General Hospital Behavioral Medicine Unit as well as having held staff positions at MGH, the Institute for Behavioral Medicine in Providence, RI and the University of Oregon Counseling Center. Since 2000, Dr. O’Keeffe has been in private practice in Massachusetts.
STEWART URIST, LICSW, Clinical Social Worker. Stewart Urist comes to Newton Wellesley Eating Disorders & Behavioral Medicine with a wealth of experiences working with eating disordered individuals and their families, as well as patients dealing with medical illness, depression and anxiety disorders. Mr. Urist graduated from the Simmons College School of Social Work with an M.S. in Social Work in 1972. Most recently he worked at the Eating Disorders Unit of Walden Behavioral Care in Waltham, MA. Prior to that he worked for Magellan Behavioral Health where he specialized in helping the most at risk members with eating disorders, their providers and families to establish and coordinate effective treatment. Previously, Stewart Urist also had a long successful career working for the Boston VA Health Care System where he held a wide range of clinical, administrative and supervisory positions.
AFFILIATED NUTRITIONISTS
JULIE FREEMAN, MA, RD, CDE, Registered Dietician. Ms. Freeman earned her masters degree in counseling and human development from St. Mary’s College in 1981. She has completed training in behavioral medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Mind Body Institute and is a certified diabetes educator. She has been a clinical instructor in nutrition at Salem State College and Newton-Wellesley Hospital School of Nursing. Ms. Freeman’s specialty areas include: nutritional management of eating disorders, weight management, PMS and perimenopause, Irritable Bowel Syndrome and other medical nutrition therapies.
ROBERTA PEARLE LAMB, RD, MPH, LDN, Registered Dietician. Ms. Roberta Pearle Lamb has a broad experience in nutritional counseling with eating disordered individuals and other medically high risk populations. She served as Director of Nutrition Services at Walden Behavioral Care, including developing and integrating nutrition services at multiple levels of care on Walden’s Eating Disorders service (2005-2009), before joining NWEDBMED. Previously, Ms. Lamb worked as a clinical dietician and nutrition consultant at the Massachusetts General Hospital Weight Center, the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA and the Cedars Sinai Medical Center Weight Loss Program, also in Los Angeles, CA. Ms. Lamb earned her Bachelor of Science in Foods, Nutrition and Dietetics from New York University in 1982 and her Masters in Public Health with nutritional science specialization from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1984. She served on the American Dietetic Association Standards of Practice Committee for Eating Disorders (expected publication of new standards in JADA, 2011) and served as the Eating Disorders Resource Professional in the ADA’s Behavioral Health Nutrition practice Group (term 2007-2010).
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