Professor Brings Awareness to Eating Disorders Abroad

Utah State University Brigham City assistant professor Maya Miyari is providing insight to the Japanese medical community on eating disorders, a culturally taboo subject, and offering her expertise in treatment strategies. During summer 2014, Miyari spent a month in Japan speaking at conferences and presenting at the University of Tsukuba. Miyari spoke on her role on exercise education programing implemented at eating disorder facilities in the United States.

Miyari started her path in the field with an interest in athletic training. She made the decision to move to Utah in hopes of working at the 2002 Winter Olympics. With limited athletic training programs in Japan, she moved from Tokyo in 1999 to start her academic career at the University of Utah. Miyairi fulfilled her goal and worked with the Japanese freestyle ski team during the Salt Lake Olympics. In 2013, she earned her doctorate in health promotion from the University of Utah. Her dissertation focused on a bullying prevention program addressing the issues of weight bias and weight-related teasing among adolescents.

At a conference hosted by the Japan Society for Eating Disorders in 2007, Miyari presented on treatment strategies in the United State.

“As expected, comments received from medical practitioners in Japan were not so positive,” Miyari said. “Basically, there was a significant gap about medical practice for eating

disorders between Japan and the United States. I sadly realized that the quality of treatment for eating disorders was not even comparable between the two countries.”

Years later, Miyari was contacted by Dr. Toshio Ishikawa, a lead researcher and medical provider for eating disorders who was touring treatment facilities in the United States and the United Kingdom. Miyari was asked to guide Dr. Ishikawa through some of Utah’s treatment facilities. Based on his tour to a variety of facilities in foreign countries, he proposed new treatment needs for eating disorders to the government in Japan.

In fall of 2013, Ishikawa asked Miyari to speak again at a Japanese Society of Psychosomatic Medicine conference. She was asked to speak on her role with exercise education programs implemented at eating disorder facilities.

“It was honor to be invited to present at the conference,” Miyari said. “Due to the different health care system in Japan, it is not easy to change medical system for treatment. However, I have noticed that a few Japanese doctors have implemented the United States’ medical model for their patients and reported some successful outcome data.”

Since there is a lack of data to support the use of assessment tools developed in foreign countries for Japanese patients, more research is needed. Miyari is in the process of becoming a visiting research fellow at the University of Tsukuba and hopes to continue contributing her work to help develop awareness of eating disorders in Japan.

Miyari has given multiple presentations to raise awareness about eating disorders and promote healthy body image and lifestyles in the local community.

Contact: Maya Miyari, maya.miyairi@usu.edu

Writer/Contact: Dana Romney-Rhoades, 435-722-1788, dana.romney@usu.edu