A King’s professor has been recognised in the King’s 2024 New Year Honours list

A Professor of Eating Disorders at King’s College London has been recognised and awarded an OBE in the King’s New Year Honours list, acc

Professor Ulrike Schmidt is also the director of the Centre of Research on Eating and Weight Disorders (CREW), which was launched earlier in 2023, as well as being a Consultant Psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.

She led the development and research on FREED, First Episode Rapid Intervention for Eating Disorders, and her research has been pivotal in enabling interventions to receive NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) recommendations so they can reach patients and carers. These interventions include guided self-help for bulimic disorders, and MANTRA, a first line treatment for adults suffering with anorexia nervosa. She has also pioneered the use of brain-targeted interventions such as neuromodulation for people with persistent eating disorders.

Professor Schmidt, who graduated from the University of Dusseldorf before training in psychiatry at Maudsley Hospital where she has been a consultant since 1998, said that she was “absolutely delighted by this award.”

She has also previously won a National Health Service Innovation Award for the development of MANTRA as well as being awarded one of the KCL Graduate School Supervisory Excellence Awards back in 2012-13.

Professor Schmidt said: “I hope this will help to shine a light on the needs and plight of people affected by eating disorders, and on the fact that research really makes a tangible difference to these people’s lives.”

Professor Matthew Hotopf, CBE, Executive Dean, IoPPN also commented on Schmidt’s recognition, saying: “I’m absolutely delighted that Professor Ulrike Schmidt has been recognised in this way. She has contributed decades of research, advocacy and clinical service to improve the lives and experiences of people with eating disorders, always placing their needs at the centre of her work.”

He went on to say: “The impact of her work is felt internationally, including the successful development and evaluation of innovative treatments for eating disorders which are now implemented across the UK. Ulrike is also a wonderful colleague, mentor and supporter of early career researchers.”

Featured image via King’s College London.

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