Wendy Oliver-Pyatt, MD
Writer, WebMD, Inc.

Wendy Oliver-Pyatt, MD, is the author of a new, breakthrough, critically acclaimed book (Fed Up!) that not only challenges our unhealthy assumptions regarding dieting, but serves as a manifesto for an anti-dieting backlash movement that is sure to grow in the coming years. As America gets fatter and unfortunately moves toward normalizing obesity, Oliver-Pyatt is championing people to redefine their relationship with food, to develop a personalized fitness program, and most importantly, to seek out a way to maintain an attractive weight without ever dieting again. She's helped hundreds of people get off their addiction to diets and has placed them into a healthy lifestyle.

She is not only a well-credentialed psychiatrist and author, but also a living example of her balanced approach to weight control. For years she suffered through countless diets that eventually led to bulimia. She was a victim of weight cycling -- the medical term describing the agonizing merry-go-round of losing and gaining weight, starving and bingeing. Through a long process of self-discovery, she broke free from the prison of dieting, lost 45 pounds, and found her way to a healthy, fit lifestyle.

Oliver-Pyatt, 38, completed her psychiatric training at New York University where she was the chief resident of the Bellevue Hospital Outpatient Service. She has held faculty positions at NYU, Albert Einstein School of Medicine, and she is an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Nevada School of Medicine. She is also licensed to practice medicine and surgery in Nevada, New York, and California.

U.S. Sen. John Ensign recognized her field work in 2002 with an award, citing: "For commitment, dedication to the Northern Nevada mental health community."

She is a member of the Academy for Eating Disorders and has taught courses on the subject of food and body preoccupation to hundreds of medical students, psychiatry residents, social workers, and healthcare providers. She is a member of the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry. She's active in medical student education in psychiatry.

She is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in both general and addiction psychiatry. She's also served as the medical director for the State of Nevada's Division of Mental Health and Disability Services. She has given various presentations at educational forums, institutes and conferences, including: Food & Body Preoccupation; Body Image & Eating Disorders; Childhood Obesity: A Psychiatrist's Response; and Giving Up on Dieting. She has appeared on numerous television and radio programs nationwide discussing her psychologically based approach to fitness of mind and body.

Oliver-Pyatt is a practicing psychiatrist in Santa Barbara, Calif., and Reno, Nev., and is married with two daughters. For more information, please consult www.getfedup.com.