Posts by Elizabeth A. Lawson, MD
-
Cholecystokinin Elevation Observed in Youth With Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder
Massachusetts General Hospital researchers found that in patients with avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, ages 10 to 23, levels of the satiety hormone cholecystokinin were nearly three-fold higher than in controls. Still, there were no associations between cholecystokinin and subjective measures of appetite.
-
Restrictive Eating Disorders May Disrupt White Matter Development
In the first study of its kind, Massachusetts General Hospital researchers found that high levels of ghrelin, ordinarily a neuroprotective hormone, are associated with decreased white matter in late- and post-pubertal females who have anorexia nervosa or atypical anorexia nervosa.
-
Single Oxytocin Dose Weakens Neural Connections That Drive the Desire for Food
Elizabeth A. Lawson, MD, Liya Kerem, MD, MSc, pediatric endocrinology fellow, Franziska Plessow, PhD, experimental psychologist in the Neuroendocrine Unit, and colleagues have become the first to show that oxytocin attenuates the functional connectivity between the VTA and other food motivation brain regions.
Biography
Elizabeth A. Lawson, MD, is a clinician in the Neuroendocrine Unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is a clinical researcher and director of the Interdisciplinary Oxytocin Research Program. In addition research on oxytocin, Dr. Lawson studies endocrine abnormalities in anorexia nervosa. Awards in recognition of her work have included the Mass General Claflin Distinguished Scholar Award and Endocrine Society's Early Investigators Award. She is author of more than 35 peer-reviewed publications.
Digestive Healthcare at Mass General
The Massachusetts General Hospital Digestive Healthcare Center is a collaborative practice of gastroenterologists, endoscopists, surgeons, radiologists, pathologists, hepatologists, oncologists and radiation oncologists dedicated to the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management of digestive diseases.