02/16/2003

"Mind, Body & Spirit," a public symposium on identifying, treating and preventing eating disorders, will be held at Lincoln School, 301 Butler Ave., Providence, on Thursday at 7 p.m. It will be in the music center in the main building of Lincoln and is free.

The event, sponsored by the Parent Action Committee representing seven private schools around the state, will feature a keynote speech by Dr. David Herzog, president and founder of the Harvard Eating Disorders Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, as well as a panel including Dr. Suzanne Riggs, chief of adolescent medicine at Rhode Island Hospital, and Jennifer Aspel, a Providence psychologist who specializes in the treatment of eating disorders.

"Body Image, Culture & the Media: Shaping the Women of Tomorrow," is the title of a public forum sponsored by the Harvard Eating Disorders Center at Massachusetts General Hospital on Feb. 24.

Speakers include Rachel Simmons, author of Odd Girl Out, who'll speak about the "hidden culture of aggression in girls"; Abby Gardner, beauty director of YM Magazine, who'll speak on "The Media, Body Image and the Teenage Girl;" and Jamie-Lynn Sigler, an actress in the HBO series Sopranos and author of Wise Girl: What I've Learned from Life, Love & Loss, who will talk about "Keeping Positive: Learning from Life's Obstacles."

Liz Brunner, a co-anchor from Channel 5 News, will moderate the presentations and panel discussion.

The forum will be held at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Gutman Conference Center, from 7 to 9 p.m. Free. For more information, check the organization's Web site, www.hedc.org.