Duke Center for Eating Disorders
Weekend Workshop for Parents of Selective Eaters (ARFID)
~ Future dates pending ~
The Team
Nancy L. Zucker, PhD
Director
Dr. Zucker is Founder and Director of the Duke Center for Eating Disorders (DCED), an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in the Duke University School of Medicine, and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University.
The DCED, under her leadership, is striving to distinguish itself in two primary ways. The Center strives to be one of the foremost Centers in the country for:
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The creation of state-of-art treatments for individuals with eating disorders and
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The delivery of state-of-art treatments to individuals with eating disorders.
One of the core missions of the Center is to find ways to deliver state-of-the-art care within the home, while finding ways to minimize the stress placed on families. To help achieve these visions, Dr. Zucker’s research addresses these same goals. Specifically, she tries to understand how individuals learn to decode the signals from their body (e.g., like hunger pains or gut butterflies) and how they come to use (or not use) those body signals to help them make effective decisions (e.g., like eating when hungry) and learn to trust themselves. Thus, many of the treatments developed at the Center help individuals and their families to get better at and more comfortable with experiencing all the confusing messages their bodies may send- from fatigue, to emotional pain. She views that helping individuals to live effectively in their bodies is one of the cornerstones of eating disorder treatments.
Dr. Chung is the Director of Adolescent Medicine at Duke University Medical Center and is an Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics. He received his A.B. degree in Cognitive Neuroscience from Harvard University and his medical degree from the Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Chung then trained in pediatrics and internal medicine at Duke University Medical Center and adolescent and young adult medicine at Children’s Hospital Boston prior to returning to Duke to direct the Adolescent Medicine Program. He also serves as the Medical Director of the Duke Center for Eating Disorders. Dr. Chung is board certified in Pediatrics, Internal Medicine and Adolescent Medicine.
Dr. Chung’s clinical and research interests center on preventive and chronic disease care of adolescents and young adults. He has experience in engaging primary care clinicians in systematically improving adolescent preventive care measures and currently works with the Duke primary care practices in that regard. Further, Dr. Chung has research and clinical experience in understanding ways to improve adolescent health through behavioral change, particularly in the context of chronic illness. He helps lead efforts at Duke to improve transitional care for adolescents with special health care needs. Finally, Dr. Chung oversees the medical care of patients within the Duke Center for Eating Disorders and supports research efforts within the Center.
Richard Chung, M.D.
Medical Director
Jodi Petry
Occupational Therapist, BCP
Feeding Specialist (SCFES)
Virginia Covington
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Virginia is a clinical social worker on the treatment team in the Duke Center for Eating Disorders at Duke University Medical Center. Virginia has been with the Duke Center for Eating Disorders (DCED) since 2009 and has been part of the DCED Immersive Family Program for Picky and Selective Eating since its inception.
Virginia specializes in the treatment of picky and selective eating in children and adolescents as well as parent training and support. Her work in the Immersive Family program focuses on parent training, anxiety management, exposure therapy, and guided meal support.
Jodi Petry is an occupational therapist knowledgeable in many areas of pediatric practice, with specialty certification in several areas: feeding, eating, and swallowing difficulties for patients of all ages, including selective eaters.
She has more than 25 years of experience working with children who have sensory processing difficulties and is certified in the administration of the Sensory Integration & Praxis tests. She enjoys working with challenging cases. Jodi is an avid gardener, loves to travel with her family and friends, and is working on improving her digital photography skills.
Noga Zerubavel
PhD
Dr. Zerubavel is a licensed psychologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University Medical Center.
Dr. Zerubavel specializes in the incorporation of mindfulness-based approaches into advanced behavioral therapies. Her clinical work focuses on individuals with trauma, either in isolation, or in the context of eating, mood, or anxiety disorders. She uses behavioral learning principles, exposure-based treatment, and mindfulness techniques to help individuals expand their food reportoires.