Maritime Eating & Appearance Lab
The people behind the research.
Meet the clinical scientists, student researchers, educators, and health care providers working toward better understanding, prevention, assessment, and treatment of eating disorders and body image concerns.
Core Values
This is what MEAL is all about.
Everyone deserves to feel confident in their body.
Rigorous science can help better understand eating disorders and body image disturbances, to ensure that no one is held back by these concerns.
People with lived experiences should play an active role in research.
Engaging patients, caregivers, and families in all stages of the research process ensures that studies focus on patient-identified priorities, which ultimately leads to better outcomes.
Research is enriched by diverse perspectives, disciplines & methodologies.
Our team and research partners represent diverse disciplines, backgrounds, and lived experiences. We bring expertise with a wide variety of research methods, allowing us to investigate research questions from multiple angles.
The MEAL Team
Our lab is a team of creative, passionate scientists.
Headed by co-founders teaching and doing research at two of the most prestigious universities in the Atlantic provinces, the Maritime Eating and Appearance Lab is guided by our core values, and a drive to better understand and improve the treatment of eating disorders.
Our team and research partners represent diverse disciplines including psychiatry, psychology, medicine, education, nursing, social work, and computer science, as well as people with lived experience. We regularly collaborate with researchers across Canada and internationally, for example in Brazil, Switzerland, and the U.K.
We know that using diverse qualitative and quantitative methods leads to a deeper, richer, and more valid understanding of body image concerns and disordered eating. To this end, we investigate research questions using a wide variety of complementary methods, from interview-based studies to longitudinal meta-analyses.
Meet our exceptional team!
Co-Directors
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Emilie Lacroix, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of New Brunswick
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Aaron Keshen, M.D., FRCPC
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University
New Brunswick
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Em Mittertreiner, B.A.
Clinical Psychology MA/PhD Student
Department of Psychology, University of New Brunswick
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Sarah Sheppard
Clinical Psychology MA/PhD Student
Department of Psychology, University of New runswick
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Jenni Cammaert, Ph.D., M.S.W., R.S.W.
Research Associate
Associate Professor, Department of Social Work, St. Thomas University
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Molly Miller, B.Phil.
Research Assistant
Department of Psychology, University of New Brunswick
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Incé Husain, B.Sc.
Research Assistant & Honours Grad
Department of Psychology, University of New Brunswick
Nova Scotia
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Alandra Wood, B.Sc.
Research Assistant
Maritime Eating & Appearance Lab
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Anastasia Harris, B.Sc.
M.Sc. Student, Psychiatry Research
Dalhousie University
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Colby Price, B.Sc.
M.Sc. Student, Psychiatry Research
Dalhousie University
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Jenna Whitney, Ph.D., R.Psych.
Research Associate
Advanced Practice Lead, NS Health Provincial Centre for Training, Education and Learning (PCTEL)
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Jessica Wournell, R.N.
Research Associate
Clinical Nurse Leader & Provincial Coordinator, Nova Scotia Eating Disorder Provincial Service
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Laura Dixon, M.Sc.
Research Assistant
Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN) Student, Dalhousie University
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Lily Spoozak
Honours Student
Undergraduate Student, Medical Sciences, Dalhousie University
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Nami Trappenberg
Research Student
Undergraduate Student, Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University
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Sara Bartel, Ph.D.
Research Collaborator
Registered Psychologist, Nova Scotia Health (Digby, NS)
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Sarrah Ali, B.Sc.
Research Collaborator
Ph.D. Student, Clinical Psychology, Florida State University
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Susan Gamberg, Ph.D., R.Psych.
Research Associate
Clinical Psychologist, Nova Scotia Health Eating Disorder Program
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Victoria Taylor, B.Sc.
Research Assistant
Medical Student, Dalhousie University
Want to join our team?
We love hearing from folks who are interested in our work. MEAL collaborates with undergraduates, graduates, post-graduates, and health care providers who are keen on expanding our knowledge of eating disorders and body image.