Angela Guarda

Dr. ANGELA GUARDA is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She obtained her undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University and her medical degree from the University of Maryland. Dr. Guarda completed her residency training in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins and an externship in eating disorders at the Maudsley Hospital in London. She has been on the faculty at Johns Hopkins for 20 years and Director of the Johns Hopkins Eating Disorders Program since 1997. Under her leadership, the Johns Hopkins Eating Disorders Program has achieved national recognition as one of the foremost U.S. academic programs for the treatment of eating disorders. The Program is widely recognized for its high rates of weight restoration and rapid refeeding in the treatment of anorexia nervosa, and for its focus on behavioral treatment and rehabilitation, including family and meal-based training. Dr. Guarda has been recognized annually by Castle Connolly’s “America’s Top Doctors” Guide since 2009. Dr. Guarda is actively involved in clinical care, research and teaching. Her translational research has focused on the pathophysiology of eating disorders including physiological alterations in gut peptides that may sustain disordered eating and brain imaging of opioid and cannabinoid receptors in bulimia nervosa. Her clinical research interests include the role of perceived coercion in treatment interventions and improving both rates of weight restoration and the medical management of refeeding in anorexia nervosa. She has been the recipient of NIMH research funding and of a research grant from the Klarman Family Foundation.