On Tuesday, October 6th, Ragen Chastain, MEd, BCPA, Megan Hellner, DrPH, MPH, RD, Riley Nickols, PhD, CEDS-C, and Dr. Whitney Trotter, DNP, PMHNP-BC, RDN/LDN will chat about the barriers to eating disorder healing for athletes. Just in time for student athlete mental health week!
Designed for clinicians, caregivers and community leaders, attendees will leave with tools and strategies to support the athletes with eating disorders in their lives.
Sponsored By:
Meet the Participants
Facilitator
Dr. Whitney Trotter, DNP, PMHNP-BC, RDN/LDN (she/her), is a healthcare leader committed to advancing trauma-informed, inclusive approaches to mental health. She serves as Chief Executive Officer of Project HEAL, a national nonprofit dedicated to reducing barriers to eating disorder care.
As a Registered Dietitian and Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, Dr. Trotter brings an integrated perspective spanning nutrition, psychiatry, eating disorders, trauma, and mental health. With more than 15 years of experience as a dietitian, she has worked across diverse communities and clinical settings, including with individuals impacted by HIV/AIDS, human trafficking, and eating disorders. She currently practices primarily as a psychiatric nurse practitioner, specializing in anxiety, mood disorders, eating disorders, and women’s mental health.
Dr. Trotter is a national leader in eating-disorder education and advocacy and co-leads the BIPOC Eating Disorders Conference with Angela Goens. Together, they have trained more than 1,000 clinicians through conferences and consultation services.
Her expertise has been featured in Essence, The Skimm, and CNN, and she has contributed to national policy efforts. She is also a clinical expert featured in Food Positivity, Sick Enough (2nd ed.), and Fat Talk. In 2026, she was recognized as a New and Emerging Voice in Psychiatry by Psych Congress Elevate.
Panelists
Ragen Chastain, MEd, BCPA (she/her) is a speaker, writer, researcher, Board Certified Patient Advocate, multi-certified health and fitness professional, and thought leader in weight science, weight stigma, health, and healthcare. Utilizing her background in research methods and statistics, Ragen has brought her signature mix of engaging, accessible style and rigorous science to diverse audiences from Mass General and Memorial Sloan Kettering, to the MEDA and HEAL conferences, Amazon and Google, Dartmouth, Cal Tech and the Yale School of Medicine. Author of the Weight and Healthcare newsletter, the book Fat: The Owner's Manual, co-author of the Health at Every Size Health Sheets, and editor of the anthology The Politics of Size, Ragen is frequently featured as an expert in print, radio, television, podcasts, and documentary film. In her free time, Ragen is a triathlete and marathoner who holds the Guinness World Record for Heaviest Woman to Complete a Marathon. Ragen lives in Oregon with her fiancée Julianne and a rotating cast of foster dogs.
Megan Hellner, DrPH, MPH, RD (she/her) is a researcher and registered dietitian with 20 years of experience specializing in treating athletes with eating disorders. Throughout her career, she has partnered with sport organizations nationwide as both a clinician and educator, and has served as a founding dietitian for several leading eating disorder treatment programs.
She is passionate about helping athletes navigate complex relationships with food and body image while developing sustainable nutrition strategies that support both performance and long-term health. Her work spans the many stages of an athlete’s career, including competition, the off-season, pregnancy and postpartum, injury, and transition out of sport.
Riley Nickols, PhD, CEDS-C (he/him) is a counseling and sport psychologist who specializes in working with athletes through his private practice, Mind Body Endurance, where in-person and virtual services are provided to support mental health, sport performance, eating, and nutritional concerns for athletes.
Dr. Nickols is the Senior Program Advisor for Athlete EDGE® at EDCare in Denver, CO where specialized intensive eating disorder treatment is provided for athletes. Dr. Nickols is a member of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s (USOPC) Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs) Expert Panel and is listed in the USOPC’s Mental Health Registry.