Advisory Board Members
Binks Behavioral Health is privileged to be able to draw on the collective expertise of the scientific community through both published literature and personal relationships with our many colleagues who like us, are dedicated to improving the health and quality of life of those we serve. Dr. Binks would like to extend particular thanks to the friends and colleagues who serve on the Advisory Board for their special contributions to our mission.
Richard L. Atkinson, M.D. – Medical Advisor
Virginia Commonwealth University; Obetech Obesity Research Center
Richmond VA. www.obesityvirus.com
Richard L. Atkinson, M.D. graduated from the Virginia Military Institute and the Medical College of Virginia, Richmond. He took residency and fellowship training in Endocrine-Metabolism at UCLA Harbor General Hospital, Torrance, California, and fellowship training in Endocrine-Metabolism at Walter Reed Army Hospital. He has been on the faculty of the University of Virginia; University of California, Davis; Eastern Virginia Medical School; and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he is Emeritus Professor of Medicine and Nutritional Sciences. He currently is Clinical Professor of Pathology at Virginia Commonwealth University; Visiting Professor of Molecular Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden; Director of the Obetech Obesity Research Center, Richmond, VA; and President of Obetech, LLC. He is Editor of the International Journal of Obesity; Regional Vice-President of The Obesity Society; Past President and Co-Founder of the American Obesity Association, Past President of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, and Past President of the American Society for Clinical Nutrition. NAASO-The Obesity Society established the annual Richard Atkinson-Judith Stern Public Service Award in 2006 to honor his service to the field of obesity. Dr. Atkinson has been a consultant to the National Institutes of Health, National Academy of Sciences, US Department of Agriculture, Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, Food and Drug Administration, Federal Trade Commission, and numerous companies and foundations. He has been involved in obesity research and treatment for over 30 years. He is interested in obesity policy and has advocated for young investigator programs nationally and internationally. Recently, his research has focused on virus-induced obesity. He and his research group demonstrated that a human adenovirus (Ad-36) produces obesity in animals and is associated with obesity in humans. Dr. Atkinson has published over 175 manuscripts and over 200 abstracts in the medical literature.
Patrick Mahlen O’Neil, Ph.D. – Clinical Trials Advisor
Medical University of South Carolina, Weight Management Center
Charleston, SC www.muschealth.com/weight
Pat O’Neil is Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina, where he is Director of the Weight Management Center. He received his B.S. in Economics from Louisiana State University and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Georgia. O’Neil has been professionally involved in obesity since 1977 in numerous clinical, teaching, research and public education roles. He directs a long-standing multi-disciplinary weight management center offering services for people of all degrees overweight. His teaching activities include supervision of psychology interns on clinical rotations in the Center, lectures to medical students, residents, and other trainee groups, and invited continuing education lectures to physician and other practitioner audiences. He is and has been principal investigator for a number of externally funded clinical trials of weight-loss agents. He is the author of more than 100 professional publications, chapters, and presentations, primarily concerning psychological, behavioral and other clinical aspects of obesity and its management. From 1987 to 1996, he authored Weighing the Choices, a weekly column on weight control in the Charleston, SC, Sunday Post and Courier.
O’Neil is an Associate Editor of the journal Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases and a member of the Editorial Boards of the journals Obesity (formerly Obesity Research), Eating Behaviors and International Journal of Obesity. He is a longstanding active member of The Obesity Society (formerly NAASO), presently serving as Vice-President after a term on Council. Previously, he was Editor of the NAASO web site, Program Chair for the NAASO 1999 annual meeting in Charleston, a member of the Publications committee and a member of the NIH/NAASO Ad Hoc Committee for Development of The Practical Guide for the Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults. He is a former member of the Committee on Military Nutrition Research of the Institute of Medicine. Also, he is former Chair of the Obesity and Eating Disorders Special Interest Group of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy.
Closer to home, O’Neil is a member of the Scientific Council of the South Carolina Nutrition Research Consortium. He participated as a member of a statewide committee that developed the Report on the Impact of Obesity on Health in South Carolina, in response to a mandate by the state General Assembly. He is also a former member and Chair of the South Carolina Board of Examiners in Psychology, and Past President of the South Carolina Academy of Professional Psychologists. Since 2001, he has been a member of Town Council of the Town of Sullivan’s Island, and before that was a member and Chair of the Town’s Planning Commission.
Trevor van Mierlo BA (Hons) - Internet & e-Health Advisor
Evolution Health Systems Inc.
Toronto Canada, San Francisco CA, Tokyo Japan. www.evolutionhs.com
Trevor van Mierlo founded Evolution Health with the vision of helping people around the world lead healthier and more productive lives. Understanding the power of electronic media, its capacity to collect and interpret behavior-based data, and the potential for algorithms to produce tailored treatment programs, Trevor became a leading pioneer in online health behavior change. In addition to managing the company’s operations in Canada, United States, United Kingdom and Japan, he directs world-class teams of Intellectual Property Law Specialists, Scientific Advisors, Global eHealth Business Development Experts and Software Application Architects. He is also a respected advisor to Principle Investigators on eHealth study designs and is a co-author on many peer-reviewed journal articles. Previous to Evolution Health, Trevor played an integral role at Mediconsult Inc as a Senior Project and IT Manager with additional business development responsibilities.
For almost 14 years he has built a foundation of expertise in eHealth by leading interactive web-based projects and developing innovative behavior-change modules, electronic diagnostic algorithms and disease management treatment programs. He also advises pharma, OTC marketing divisions, insurance companies, government agencies and non-profit organizations on the effective implementation of eHealth programs. Trevor graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a Combined Honors Degree in English and History. While leading the direction of Evolution Health, Trevor is concurrently completing his Masters of Science in Community Health (MScCH) at the School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, focusing on Addictions and Mental Health.