Researcher looking into understudied eating disorder awarded prestigious funding

Dr Samuel Chawner, research fellow at Cardiff University’s Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics, has recently received over £2 million in funding as part of a Wellcome Career Development Award focusing on Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID).

ARFID was recognised as a psychiatric diagnosis in 2013 and is a severe feeding and eating disorder characterised by food restriction and avoidance which can lead to serious physical and psychological consequences. These inlcude malnutrition, nutritional dependency on supplements and enteral (gastric tube) feeding, as well as psychosocial distress.

However, ARFID is a complex disorder and can present in variety of ways, with symptoms ranging from diminished appetite, sensory-based food aversion, and fear of negative consequences associated with eating,such as choking and vomiting.

Dr Chawner hopes to provide clarity to these complexities through his research by investigating the variety of clinical presentations associated with ARFID, and its causes.

Dr Chawner will use large-scale data to find out if there are distinct symptom subtypes of ARFID, which may have different genetic and environmental causes, and therefore could require different clinical support and treatment.

Dr Chawner said: “I’m thrilled to receive this award. There is currently a severe lack of research into ARFID, and this greatly limits clinical practice.  At the moment, individuals living with the disorder face limited information resources and service provision.

Individuals living with ARFID, as well as health services and the eating disorder charity Beat were involved in developing the application. A significant part of this eight-year project will include working directly with these stakeholders to co-develop the research, information resources and service development.

Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Enterprise at Cardiff University, Professor Roger Whitaker, commented:

Tom Quinn, Director of Beat External Affairs, responded to the news, 'we're delighted to hear that Dr Chawner's research project is getting much-needed funding. There's a huge lack of research into eating disorders, particularly ARFID, and we hope that this project will lead to vital findings which could hugely improve the lives of those affected.'