Leadership

The UCSF Eating Disorders Program is led by Drs. Daniel Le Grange, Sara Buckelew, Amanda Downey, Erin Accurso, Sarah Forsberg and Andrea Garber. Together, they bring decades of expertise to the psychological, medical, and nutritional management of young people with eating disorders. 

Daniel Le Grange, PhD

Director and Benioff UCSF Professor in Children's Health

Dr. Le Grange holds a Distinguished Professorship at the University of California, San Francisco, where he is a Benioff UCSF Professor in Children’s Health and Director of the Eating Disorders Program in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, as well as the Department of Pediatrics. Dr. Le Grange also is Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at The University of Chicago. He received his doctoral education at the Institute of Psychiatry and the Maudsley Hospital, the University of London, and completed postdoctoral work at the University of London and the Maudsley Hospital, and a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University School of Medicine, California.  Dr. Le Grange’s research interests focuses primarily on treatment development through randomized controlled trials for adolescents with eating disorders. He has authored or co-authored more than 600 manuscripts, books, book chapters, and abstracts, and presented his work at more than 200 national and international scientific meetings. His focused scholarship has been translated into Chinese, Dutch, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Russian. In recognition of his achievements, Dr. Le Grange was elected a Fellow of the Academy for Eating Disorders in 2002. He also is a Member of the Eating Disorders Research Society, Associate Editor for the Journal of Eating Disorders and the European Eating Disorders Review, and past Associate Editor for BMC Psychiatry. He currently serves as an Editorial Board Member for Eating Behaviors and the The Italian Journal of Eating Disorders and Obesity, and is a past Editorial Board Member for the International Journal of Eating Disorders. He is a well-known figure on the international lecture circuit and has on numerous occasions presented his work across North America, Europe, Australia, Southeast Asia, and South Africa.  Over the past 20 years, Dr. Le Grange has been Principal Investigator on numerous randomized clinical trials funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (United States), the National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia), as well as private foundations in the United States and Australia. Dr. Le Grange is the 2013 recipient of the UCSF Presidential Chair Award, the 2014 recipient of the Academy for Eating Disorders Leadership in Research Award, and the 2017 recipient of the Eating Disorder Recovery Support Hall of Fame Award for ResearchDr. Le Grange is recognized as one of the world leaders in the domain of treatment research in adolescent eating disorders, and the most recent addition of Expertscape ranks him third among the world’s experts in anorexia nervosa out of almost 10,000 ranked scientists (03/2019) (https://expertscape.com/ex/anorexia+nervosa).

Click here to view Dr. Daniel Le Grange's Curriculum Vitae.

Sara Buckelew, MD, MPH

Medical Director and Professor of Pediatrics

Dr. Sara Buckelew (she/her/hers) started the UCSF Eating Disorders Program in 2007. She specializes in treating children, adolescents, and transitional age youth with eating disorders. Dr. Buckelew earned a medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in public health at UC Berkeley. She is a member of the American College of Preventive Medicine, American Teachers of Preventive Medicine, and Society for Adolescent Medicine.

 

Amanda Downey, MD, FAAP

Assistant Medical Director and Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics and Psychiatry

Dr. Amanda Downey (she/her/hers) is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics and Psychiatry, and the Assistant Medical Director of the UCSF Eating Disorders Program. She earned a medical degree at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and completed a triple board residency (pediatrics, adult psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry) at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Dr. Downey is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Academy for Eating Disorders.

 

Erin C. Accurso, PhD

Clinical Director and Associate Professor

Dr. Erin Accurso (she/her/hers) is Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Director of the Eating Disorders Program. Dr. Accurso obtained her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the San Diego State University / University of California, San Diego Joint Doctoral Program, after which she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Chicago specializing in eating disorders treatment and research. Dr. Accurso is highly committed to improving the accessibility of evidence-based treatments to diverse families. She holds memberships in the Academy for Eating Disorders, Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, and Society for Implementation Research. 

 

Sarah Forsberg, PsyD

Inpatient Psychology Services Director and Associate Clinical Professor 

Dr. Sarah Forsberg (she/her/hers) came to the UCSF Eating Disorders program from Stanford University, where she was involved in research and treatment for child and adolescent eating disorders for 10 years. Dr. Forsberg completed her doctoral training at the PGSP-Stanford Consortium and her pre-doctoral internship at the University of North Carolina, School of Medicine. At UNC, she worked with individuals across the developmental spectrum on an inpatient, partial hospital and outpatient unit for the treatment of eating disorders. Dr. Forsberg enjoys integrating clinical and research interests, and she focuses on the development, dissemination, and implementation of novel treatments for childhood eating disorders, with a specific focus on family-based treatment (FBT). She's the attending psychologist on the Benioff's Children's Hospital Adolescent Medicine Unit where she provides care for individuals hospitalized for treatment of the medical consequences of eating disorders, and their families.

  

Andrea K. Garber, PhD, RD

Chief Nutritionist and Professor of Pediatrics 

Dr. Andrea Garber (she/her/hers) is a Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Adolescent & Young Adult Medicine and Chief Nutritionist for the Eating Disorders Program. Dr. Garber earned her PhD in Human and Clinical Nutrition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and RD (Registered Dietitian) from UCSF. She teaches in the UCSF School of Medicine, where she is the Nutrition Theme Director, and the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley, where she holds a joint faculty appointment. Dr. Garber's research focuses on eating disorders. She is the Principal Investigator on an NIH-funded study of refeeding in adolescents with anorexia nervosa. In the community, Dr. Garber has been a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Childhood Obesity Task Force, co-Chair of the Mayor’s Shape Up initiative, and an invited participant to Governor Schwarzenegger’s Obesity Summit.