Dr. Laurel Mayer, MD

Laurel Mayer, M.D. is Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She received a BA at Yale University and her MD degree at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Mayer's research interest currently focuses on using sophisticated eating behavior paradigms to evaluate eating behavior across the eating and weight disordered spectrum. Building on successful studies of eating behavior in anorexia nervosa, Dr. Mayer is currently exploring (1) the potential influence of the FTO gene on eating behavior and fronto-striatal brain circuits in healthy, normal weight kids, in order to potentially identify risk factors for later weight gain. (2) the potential biological correlates of weight suppression (the difference between one?s lifetime and current weight) in women with bulimia nervosa in order to test the hypothesis that higher levels of weight suppression and currently being on a diet to lose weight, will be independently associated with lower resting metabolic rate and lower levels of metabolic (e.g. thyroid), reproductive (e.g., estrogen) and appetitive (e.g., leptin) hormone levels among women with bulimia nervosa. (3) the utility of short-term residential laboratory-based measures in predicting the longer-term effects of pharmacologic agents in promoting weight loss. (4) measuring the influence of dietary macronutrients distributions (e.g. low carb compared to standard American) on intake and energy expenditure and (5) evaluating the weight gain and related metabolic side effects of second-generation antipsychotics.