I am a metabolic psychiatrist and metabolic health expert, and the Founder and Medical Director of Touchpoints180TM — and our incredibly talented, fabulous team. We’ve got the A team.
If you’re looking for the best way forward — to nourish, protect, and energize your brain and your body — to absolutely thrive and live your best life — you’re in the right hands! I am all in! I love the humanity, the closeness, and the excitement of working directly with people to get real answers and solutions they have been unable to find. That’s what I do. That’s who I am.
Who else am I? A physician, psychiatrist, wife, mother, and food-lover who has published internationally important findings directly from my clinical practice that are changing the world of psychiatry and metabolic health.
Our published case series shows how our metabolic strategies led to complete remission of major depression and complex anxiety disorders in as little as 7-12 weeks. Within 6 weeks of publication, our scientific report was ranked within the top 5% (99th percentile) of more than 26 million research papers ever tracked online.
Most recently, I authored the first report in world literature describing our signature metabolic approach in treating inflammatory and autoimmune conditions at the same time as anxiety, worry, and obsessive thinking. All completely resolved within only 12 weeks–highlighting my expertise in targeting whole body wellness.
And this is just the beginning. Just imagine what can happen for you when you work with us!
Society of Metabolic Health Practitioners Certified Metabolic Practitioner
and
Nutrition Network Certified Medical Practitioner Summa Cum Laude the highest and most coveted education in metabolic health
Want to take a deeper dive and learn more about me and my work?
Publications, Presentations, and Accolades
I have pioneered and published real-world clinical data as a metabolic expert using ketogenic metabolic therapies in the treatment of mood disorders, anxiety disorders, OCD, and ADHD, and now in inflammatory conditions such as ulcerative colitis, and autoimmune conditions with the aim of sustained symptom remission and restoration of metabolic health. This is what we see in our practice members.
My recent clinical research was a case series of patients under my care which showed complete remission of major depression and complex anxiety disorders using a personalized, animal-based ketogenic diet in adults with complex psychiatric and metabolic comorbidity within as little as 7 weeks. Within 6 weeks of its publication, our paper ranked within the top 5% (99th percentile) of more than 26 million research papers around the world tracked by Altmetric. It is still one of the most widely read papers online.
Clearly, people are hungry for our knowledge.
Why? Because we’re the real deal. We’re in the trenches. We do the work. We work with real people, with lots of issues all at the same time, where it’s complex and messy. We don’t just talk, or pretend like we have experience. We embody the word experience.
My latest publication is a case report — the first report in the world literature describing complete remission of OCD and concurrent clinical remission of Ulcerative Colitis within 12 weeks. This is a striking and beautiful interplay of using a single metabolic strategy to target gut inflammation, systemic inflammation, and neuroinflammation all at the same time — and I hope that this too, will spark worldwide interest and further research.
This is about real life in the real world — and offering up real-world results for peer review takes a lot of grit.
I also work with eating disorders, from anorexia to food addiction, binge eating disorder, and bulimia.
The anorexia story started several years ago. I co-authored the first report of complete remission of chronic anorexia nervosa using a ketogenic diet (and ketamine), then served as the Principal Investigator for a clinical trial (a pilot study) to see if we could replicate this (it was so extraordinary!) — and it did. We demonstrated remission of psychopathology in weight-recovered anorexia. That little pilot study launched global interest in ketogenic treatment of anorexia… and spurred funding of a large controlled clinical trial studying a ketogenic diet in weight-recovered anorexia by one of my co-authors.
Want to learn more? Here are my papers:
The First Published Report of Complete Remission of Depression and Anxiety Using a Ketogenic Diet
Inspiration is on the Menu
Although this is a small case series, and not a large prospective randomized trial, our results show what we actually see every day, and show what is possible. No wonder it’s exploded around the world. We hope it inspires you to book a discovery call and consider our approach for yourself or someone you love.
And we hope our work galvanizes deeper research around the world, like our earlier work has…….
Striking Results as Principal Investigator of the first Clinical Trial using a Therapeutic Ketogenic Diet in Anorexia Nervosa
Calabrese L, Scolnick B, Zupec-Kania B, Beckwith C, Costello K, Frank, GKW. Ketogenic diet and ketamine infusion treatment to target chronic persistent eating disorder psychopathology in anorexia nervosa: a pilot study. Eat Weight Disord (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-022-01455-x
Not only did we carefully design and run this clinical trial during the height of a pandemic but our research study was registered through the National Institutes of Health and the National Library of Medicine on ClinicalTrials.gov (a super big deal for a doctor in clinical practice outside of an academic research center).
So what did we actually do? We employed a therapeutic ketogenic diet aimed to establish and maintain nutritional ketosis, but not weight loss, followed by ketamine infusions, to specifically target chronic persistent eating disorder symptoms and the “anorexic voice” — which interferes with recovery and often leads to relapse in anorexia.
This is so exciting for me as a psychiatrist dedicated to real-world on-the-ground transformation — and speaks volumes about the careful attention, rigor, safety, transparency, and the ethics I bring to my work, all of my work, at Touchpoints180TM.
This pilot study highlights our innovative approach — one that is safe, effective, and provided extraordinary symptomatic relief –relief they had NEVER HAD BEFORE — in women with anorexia who were weight restored but still left with severe preoccupations with fears of weight gain, body shape concerns, and difficulties with self-acceptance.
This publication ranks in the 94th percentile of more than 400,000 articles of a similar age across all journals — pretty incredible for a small pilot study.
My research supports specific neurobiologic underpinnings in anorexia which can be normalized using a metabolic strategy (in this case, a therapeutic ketogenic metabolic therapy) followed by ketamine infusion treatment. And this paper has inspired larger randomized controlled clinical trials in anorexia to test the effectiveness of our approach — beginning with a clinical trial examining a ketogenic diet in weight-recovered anorexia nervosa currently being conducted at UCSD by my co-author, Guido Frank, MD PhD.
Our Groundbreaking Case Report on Complete Remission of Chronic Anorexia with Ketogenic Diet and Ketamine
Scolnick B, Zupec-Kania B, Calabrese C, Aoki C, Hildebrandt T. Remission from Chronic Anorexia Nervosa with Ketogenic Diet and Ketamine: Case Report. Front. Psychiatry, 30 July 2020. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00763
This paper has generated more worldwide views than 95% of all articles published in Frontiers! The novelty of this approach quickly garnered the attention of Faculty Opinions, and prized coverage on the Faculty Opinions Blog which you can read here:
Keep going… or just skip it… and scroll down to see where I come from, where I’ve studied, whom I’ve learned from, where my mentors are, where the knowledge began. It’s my most prized possession. And then see if you’d like me to share it with you.
Lori Calabrese, MD on ResearchGate
Academic Presentations
Symposium for Metabolic Health — San Diego, 9th Annual Symposium, LowCarb San Diego in collaboration with Society of Metabolic Health Practitioners, San Diego, CA, August, 2024. What Does It Take? Getting Rid of Depression and Anxiety with a Ketogenic Diet (Presentation)
Metabolic Health Summit 2024, Clearwater FL, January 2024. Ketogenic Diet for Complete Remission of Anxiety and Major Depression: A Case Series (Poster)
Metabolic Health Summit 2024, Clearwater FL, January 2024. Ketogenic Diet and Ketamine Infusion Treatment to Target Chronic Persistent Eating Disorder Psychopathology in Anorexia Nervosa: A Pilot Study (Poster)
8th Global Symposium on Ketogenic Therapies, International Neurological Ketogenic Society, San Diego, CA September 2023. Metabolic Psychiatry in Practice: Factors Associated with Rapid Adoption of KMT (Poster)
Symposium for Metabolic Health — San Diego, 8th Annual Symposium, LowCarb San Diego in collaboration with Society of Metabolic Health Practitioners, San Diego, CA, August, 2023. Getting Patients on Board: Factors Associated with Successful Adoption of Ketogenic Metabolic Therapy in Patients with Complex Psychiatric Comorbidity (Poster)
ICED 2023 International Conference on Eating Disorders, The Academy of Eating Disorders, Washington, DC, June, 2023. Broadening Our Impact: Enhancing Visibility Through Collaboration and Outreach. Stopping the Anorexic Voice with Keto and Ketamine: A Pilot Study (Presentation with Barbara Scolnick)
XXVIIIth Annual Meeting of the Eating Disorders Research Society Philadelphia, PA, September, 2022. The Next Generation of Eating Disorders Research: Breakthroughs, Innovations, and Future Directions. Ketogenic Diet and Ketamine Infusions Target Chronic Persistent Eating Disorder Psychopathology: A Pilot Study (Poster)
Education
Wellesley College
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Residency Training
The John Hopkins Hospital Bayview Campus / Francis Scott Key Medical Center
Harvard Medical School / Massachusetts General Hospital
Chief Resident, The Avery D. Weisman Psychiatry Consultation Service, Massachusetts General Hospital / Harvard Medical School
Academic Faculty Appointments
Harvard Medical School
Yale School of Medicine
License, Certifications, & Awards
Nutrition Network Certified Medical Practitioner, Summa Cum Laude Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
Top Docs Connecticut Magazine 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2023, 2024
Psychiatrist of the Year, Eastern Connecticut Health Network
National Institutes of Mental Health Best Resident in Psychiatry Award
The Thomas P. Hackett Award for Excellence in Consultation/Liaison Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital / Harvard Medical School
International Rotary Foundation Undergraduate Fellowship
Professional Activities and Memberships
Nutrition Network Certified Medical Practitioner, Summa Cum Laude
Society of Metabolic Health Practitioners, Founding Member
International Neurological Ketogenic Society
American Psychiatric Association
Connecticut Psychiatric Society
Clinical Advisor
