Immersive Family Program for Picky* or Selective Eating
*Sometimes referred to as Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)
Our Team
Nancy Zucker, Ph.D
Director, Center for Eating Disorders
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:
-
The creation of state-of-art treatments for individuals with eating disorders and
-
The delivery of these 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.
Richard Chung, M.D.
Medical Director, Pediatrics
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.
Laura Weisberg, Ph.D
Dr. Weisberg's interests are in psychotherapy and behavioral management for anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, and other eating disorders; effects of trauma on personality and symptom formation; relational-dynamic psychotherapy including accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy.
Jodi Petry
Occupational Therapist, BCP
Feeding Specialist (SCFES)
Jodi Petry is 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.
Lisa K. Honeycutt
Licensed Professional Counselor
Lisa Honeycutt serves dual roles as a clinician and a clinical research coordinator at Duke University Medical Center. Lisa been been with the Duke Center for Eating Disorders (DCED) since 2009. She has been part of the DCED Immersive Family program for Picky and Selective Eating since its inception. Lisa specializes in Marriage and Family Therapy; her work in the Immersive Family Program focuses on parent training, family work and the parental tasks associated with managing behavior, increasing motivation for change and support the child's progress.
Lisa is currently a PhD candidate at Northcentral University where her emphasis of study is Medical Family Therapy. She also serves as a clinician with the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) at Duke Program and brings ACT principles into her work with individuals, couples and families.
Virginia Covington, MSW
Virginia is a clinical social worker on the treatment team in the Duke Center for Eating Disorders at Duke University Medical Center. she has been with the DCED since 2009 and has been part of the Immersive Family Program for Picky and Selective Eating since its inception.
Virginia specializes in the treatment of 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, food exposure therapy and guided meal support.
Noga Zerubavel, PhD
Dr. Zerubavel is a licensed psychologist and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University Medical Center. She has expertise in cognitive behavioral and mindfulness-based approaches to psychotherapy.
She specializes in working with individuals who have experienced trauma and also works with individuals with eating disorders as well as anxiety and mood disorders. She uses behavioral learning principles, exposure-based treatment, and mindfulness techniques to help individuals expand their food reportoires.
Ashley Moskovich, PhD
Dr. Moskovich is a postdoctoral fellow at Duke University Medical Center. She completed her pre-doctoral internship at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior and earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Duke University in 2014. During her graduate training, Dr. Moskovich worked in the Duke Center for Eating Disorders under the combined mentorship of Dr. Nancy Zucker and Dr. Rhonda Merwin, where she developed clinical and research expertise in eating disorders and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.