Director, UCLA Eating Disorders Program
Michael A. Strober, Ph.D.
Franklin Mint Endowed Chair in Eating Disorders
Professor of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences
Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Dr. Michael Strober is the Franklin Mint Professor of Eating Disorders and Psychiatry at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine, and director of the Eating Disorders Program at the Stewart and Lynda Resnick Neurospychiatric Hospital at UCLA. After graduating magna cum laude from Queens College of the City University of New York, he attended the University of Pittsburgh, where he received a doctorate in clinical psychology with high honors in 1975. Dr. Strober joined the faculty of the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences in 1975, and has served as director of the Eating Disorders Program for the past 30 years. Today, the UCLA Eating Disorders Program is recognized internationally as a center of excellence for the care it provides to children, teenagers and adults.
In addition to his extensive clinical expertise in the area of consultation and treatment, Dr. Strober has authored nearly 200 scientific articles and book chapters, and his accomplishments in research, service and teaching have been recognized by the National Eating Disorders Association (2005 Award for Excellence in Teaching) and the Academy for Eating Disorders (2005 Award for Excellence in Teaching and Education). His research activities have been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health for more than 15 years, and focus on the role of personality, family and genetic influences in anorexia and bulimia nervosa, and predictors of long-term recovery.
Dr. Strober is a founding member and past president of the Eating Disorders Research Society, a founding fellow of the Academy for Eating Disorders, has served as advisor and consultant to the National Institute of Mental Health on research priorities in eating disorders, and is editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Eating Disorders.
Associate Director, UCLA Eating Disorders Program
Cynthia Pikus, Ph.D.
Dr. Cynthia Pikus is the assistant director of Outpatient Eating Disorders Services at the UCLA Resnick Neurospychiatric Hospital. After receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree from UCLA, graduating summa cum laude and with honors, she remained at UCLA for her graduate studies and received her doctorate in clinical psychology in 1995. Dr. Pikus joined the staff of the UCLA Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital in 1997 and has worked in adolescent psychiatry and in the UCLA Eating Disorders Program since that time, both assisting with program development and providing individual and family therapy for our adolescent and adult patients across the inpatient and partial hospitalization programs. She also oversees the preadmission assessment and psychiatric evaluation of patients requesting outpatient eating disorder services, and runs the adolescent and adult outpatient eating disorders group programs.
Clinical Nurse Specialist, Adolescent Inpatient and Partial Hospitalization Eating Disorders Programs
Roberta Freeman, R.N., M.S.N., C.S.
Roberta Freeman earned her R.N. from Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center School of Nursing in Chicago, Ill. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from California State University, Dominguez Hills, and her Master's degree from California State University, Los Angeles. She is a board certified clinical nurse specialist in psychiatric and mental health nursing. Her inpatient psychiatric experience includes child, adolescent and adult direct care and supervision. She has worked at the UCLA Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital in adolescent psychiatry for more than 30 years and has held a faculty appointment at California State University, Los Angeles in the BSN program. Ms. Freeman is currently the clinical nurse specialist for the Adolescent Eating Disorders Program at UCLA. She assists in overseeing nearly all aspects of the inpatient and partial hospitalization eating disorders programs for our child and adolescent patients, including the admission process, individual evaluations and treatment planning. She also provides group therapy.
Clinical Nurse Specialist, Adult Inpatient and Partial Hospitalization Eating Disorders Programs
Maureen Lynch, R.N., M.S.N., C.S.
Maureen Lynch earned her R.N. from L.A. County-USC Medical Center School of Nursing, and her Bachelor of Science and Master's of Science degrees from California State University, Los Angeles, graduating with honors. She is a board certified clinical nurse specialist in child and adolescent psychiatric and mental health nursing. Her inpatient psychiatric experience includes working in chemical dependency detoxification and rehabilitation programs, and she has held faculty appointments at California State University, Los Angeles, in the BSN program, and at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in the BSN and MSN programs. She worked at the UCLA Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital in the inpatient eating disorders program from 1986 through 2000. She then served as the program coordinator and primary therapist for the Kaiser Permanente, Hawaii Region, Outpatient Eating Disorders Program from 2001 until 2007. In 2007, she returned to the UCLA Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital as the clinical nurse specialist for the Adult Eating Disorders Program. She assists in overseeing nearly all aspects of the inpatient and partial hospitalization eating disorders programs for our adult patients, including the admission process, individual evaluations and treatment planning. She also provides group therapy, including DBT groups.
Medical Director, Adolescent Inpatient Eating Disorders Program
Mark DeAntonio, M.D.
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences
Dr. Mark DeAntonio graduated with highest honors in biology from UC Santa Cruz, and received his medical degree from Stanford University in 1982. He then completed his residency in psychiatry at Yale University and fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at UCLA. Dr. DeAntonio has been the director of the Adolescent Inpatient Service (now the Child and Adolescent Inpatient Service) at the UCLA Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital since 1987, as well as the medical director of the Adolescent Inpatient Eating Disorders Program. He specializes in treating psychiatric disorders of adolescence, including eating disorders, mood disorders and developmental disabilities. He is an elected member of the American College of Physicians and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.
Medical Director, Adolescent Partial Hospitalization Eating Disorders Programs
Robert Suddath, M.D.
Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences
Dr. Robert Suddath received his medical degree from the University of New Mexico in 1991. He completed his residency in general psychiatry at the University of New Mexico in 1994, completed a research fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health in 1995, and completed a fellowship in forensic psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry at St. Vincent's Hospital and Medical Center of New York in 1998. He then joined the faculty at UC Davis, and in 2002 joined the faculty at the UCLA Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital. Dr. Suddath is involved in research on anxiety, mood disorders and impulse control disorders, and he is the director of the UCLA Child and Adolescent Partial Hospitalization Program, as well as the medical director of our Adolescent Partial Hospitalization Eating Disorders Program.
Attending Psychiatrist, Inpatient Eating Disorders Program
Mahnaz Pezeshpour, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences
Dr. Mahnaz Pezeshpour received her medical degree in Iran and completed the residency program in psychiatry and the fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, GA. She joined the faculty of the UCLA Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital in 2007, and has worked since then in both the general adolescent psychiatry inpatient program and the Adolescent Inpatient Eating Disorders Program, supervising trainees in the psychiatry residency program and providing patient care. She has extensive experience in child, adolescent and adult psychopharmacology, and is also fluent in Farsi.
Attending Psychologists
Emily Lefkowitz, Ph.D.
Cynthia Pikus, Ph.D.
Leah Pressman, Ph.D.
Rhonda Sena, Ph.D.
Clinical Social Workers
Erika Cooley, L.C.S.W.
Miranda Daniel, L.C.S.W.
Carlyn Lampert, L.C.S.W.
Cheryl Teplinsky, L.C.S.W.
Dietician
Lisa Davis, R.D.
Occupational Therapists
Aimee Levine Dickman, O.T.
Leah Parrent, O.T.
Recreation Therapists
Rod Adnit, R.T.
Jack Kautzer, R.T.
Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner
Stacy Bower, R.N., N.P.
