Chevese Turner

With over 20 years of experience, Chevese Turner is an internationally recognized activist and advocate, speaker, policy influencer and movement-builder who dedicates her ability to make significant social change on issues concerning eating disorders, weight stigma and discrimination, and intersectional social justice. Turner founded the Binge Eating Disorder Association (BEDA) in 2008 and successfully merged it with the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) in 2018, after 10 years that significantly changed the eating disorders community in both scope and focus.

Prior to BEDA and Turner’s work advocating for the inclusion of Binge Eating Disorder (BED) in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual’s 5th Edition (DSM-5), published in 2013, those struggling with the most common and under diagnosed eating disorder had little hope of being recognized much less accessing treatment and insurance coverage. She continues to grow as a healthcare activist and believes integrating what is currently known and future research about social determinants of health is an important way forward for those at the intersection of oppressions and repeated denial of healthcare based on their body size, color, ethnicity, age, gender, socio-economic status, etc.

Turner is also the co-author of Binge Eating Disorder: The Journey to Recovery & Beyond and contributes regularly to podcasts and the media. Turner attended Temple University in Philadelphia where she received a BA in Political Science. Her professional expertise includes public policy and government relations, non-profit management, strategy, programming and communications, and making change through social healthcare movements.

She is a past board member of the Academy of Eating Disorders and the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD), and is currently an Advisor for Families Empowered and Supporting Treatment for Eating Disorders (F.E.A.S.T.).