(she/her)
director
Prof Sarah Maguire (OAM) is a hospital and community-based clinical psychologist, board-approved supervisor, researcher with over 60 peer-reviewed publications and 3561 citations, as well as educator and policy maker with > 20 years experience in the field of eating disorders. In 2009, Sarah received the AH Martin Prize (2009) for outsanding doctoral student. Currently, Sarah is a senior advisor to and committee member of NSW Ministry of Health, implementing large scale health system reform under the NSW Service Plan for Eating Disorders 2021-2025. As the Co-Director of InsideOut Institute, Sarah is the Chief Investigator on research projects, securingover $19 million in competitive funding research in the last 3 years. She is passionate about changing the social perception and treatment of eating disorders, striving for clinical excellence, policy advancement, and translable research improving eating disorder outcomes.
Sarah's research interest range from understanding ways to improve the understanding, efficacy, and accessbility to evidence-based digital and face-to-face personalised treatments for all eating disorders. Sarah is also interested in reconceptualising eating disorders, particularly anorexia nervosa, and advocates providing training programs for eating disorder practitioners to improve treatment outcomes for eating disorders.
At the InsideOut Institute she leads a research team with a broad research agenda, including biological, health systems, health economics, prevention, public health promotion, clinical intervention, and translational research. She is the Chief Investigator on projects totalling over $19 million in competitive research funding in the last 3 years, including $13 million for the National Research & Translation Centre in Eating Disorders. She has over 60 peer-reviewed publications. Prof Sarah Maguire and her team are passionate about changing the way treating disorders are perceived and treated within the health system and our community, driving for clinical excellence, providing policy leadership, research translation, and research that changes practice and outcomes.
This project aims to improve treatment and early intervention of eating disorders in mainstream mental health settings nationally (Headspace, Medicare Mental Health, Head to Health and Initial Assessment and Referral (IAR)) by embedding evidence-based treatment in care and upskilling frontline mental health clinicians.
Our eClinic is a digital platform providing immediate access to evidence-based online interventions and self-monitoring tools for people with eating disorders at any point in their recovery journey, with a Health Professional Portal enabling clinician-guided support. This research establishes a comprehensive outcomes database from routinely collected eClinic data to analyse accessibility, usage, and treatment effectiveness, informing platform improvements and transforming service provision for underserved populations.
The livED project offers a digital platform for people to share their experiences of living with and getting treatment for body image, eating or exercise concerns. The project aims to improve and diversify our understanding of eating disorders within the community and to inform health system approaches.
The IncludED study is one of Australia's largest investigations into eating and body image concerns within the LGBTQIA+ community, conducted through online surveys with people aged 16+ from across the globe. The findings aim to improve awareness, support, and treatment for eating disorders within these communities, which have been historically under‑researched.
This study develops and validates a perinatal-adapted screening tool (IOI-SP) through lived-experience co-design to accurately identify eating disorder symptoms during pregnancy and postpartum, addressing a critical gap in routine detection.
The InsideOut Institute Screener (IOI‑S) is a co‑designed digital tool that accurately identifies people at high risk of, or in the early stages of, eating disorders. This project shows that the IOI‑S performs equally well when used online or delivered face‑to‑face by clinicians, highlighting its potential to support earlier detection and intervention in primary healthcare.
An analysis of the first 24 months of uptake of Australia's 2019 dedicated Medicare items for eating disorders, examining variations in service delivery across regions, healthcare settings, and professional disciplines. The study tracked over 29,000 care plans initiated and 265,000 treatment sessions delivered, identifying opportunities for program refinement to optimise outcomes and ensure policy objectives are met.
SkillED is an online CBT self-help program with 11 self-paced modules that evaluates innovative engagement strategies - including individual treatment choice and just-in-time adaptive interventions - to reduce dropout rates and improve adherence and outcomes for individuals aged 12+ experiencing eating disorder symptoms.
The GP Hub and Tools research program evaluates a comprehensive, free, nationally available digital hub designed to support GPs in screening, assessing, diagnosing, and treating eating disorders through evidence-based tools, clinical decision support, and practice management resources. The program monitors engagement and outcomes to identify improvement opportunities, with the goal of increasing GPs' knowledge, confidence, and willingness to identify and manage eating disorders in primary care.
This study develops and empirically validates a standardised assessment tool based on the RAVES framework to measure nutritional rehabilitation in people with eating disorders. By operationalising this widely-used clinical framework, the tool will enable consistent tracking of recovery progress, facilitate tailored interventions, and enhance evidence-based nutrition care in eating disorder treatment.
This project develops a data-driven model of treatment personalisation using pre-existing clinical datasets to identify individual-level intervention targets for eating disorders, followed by a pilot study assessing preliminary efficacy, acceptability, and feasibility.
EDGI is a world-first genome-wide association study conducted in collaboration with QIMR Berghofer and international researchers. It aims to identify the hundreds of genes contributing to Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, Binge Eating Disorder, and ARFID, to enable more targeted, personalised interventions and earlier detection in high-risk groups.
This study applies nutritional geometry to food diary records from 200 people with Binge Eating Disorder or Bulimia Nervosa to investigate whether insufficient protein intake drives overconsumption and loss of dietary control.
The Holistic Understanding study is a longitudinal, biopsychosocial dense-sampling study designed to uncover the mechanisms underlying eating disorder development and maintenance, addressing gaps in current understanding that limit treatment efficacy.
This trial will develop and evaluate a personalised package of care for young people with anorexia nervosa aged 14-25 through co-production with individuals and families, with treatment tailored based on regular clinical and psychometric review.
SupportED is the first inclusive online support program co-designed for carers of people with eating disorders, offering self-paced skills training across all eating disorder types and carer relationships. Preliminary findings demonstrate the program's acceptability and feasibility while showing promise in reducing caregiver burden and improving support capabilities.
This project created a single, standard set of information to be collected about eating disorders across Australia, to help us better understand how people access treatment and how well those treatments work.
Treating severe and enduring anorexia nervosa: a randomized controlled trial.
Touyz S, Le Grange D, Lacey H, et al.
Psychological Medicine.
43(12).
Has the Time Come for a Staging Model to Map the Course of Eating Disorders from High Risk to Severe Enduring Illness? An Examination of the Evidence.
Treasure, J., Stein, D., & Maguire, S.
Early Intervention in Psychiatry.
9(3), 173 - 184.
Risk Factors for Eating Disorders: Findings From a Rapid Review
Barakat, S., McLean, S. A., Bryant, E., Le, A., Marks, P., Touyz, S., Maguire, S., & Research Consortium
Journal of Eating Disorders.
11(1).
Psychiatric and Medical Comorbidities of Eating Disorders: Findings From a Rapid Review of the Literature
Hambleton, A., Pepin, G., Le, A. et al
Journal of Eating Disorders.
10, 132.
Eating Disorder Outcomes: Findings From a Rapid Review of Over a Decade of Research.
Miskovic-Wheatley, J., Bryant, E., Ong, S.H. et al.
Journal of Eating Disorders.
11, 85.
digital-mental-health
implementation-translation
treatment-innovation
understanding-illness-lived-experience
BPsych, MA, DCP, PhD in Clinical Psychology
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