Samantha Scholtz
Samantha is a consultant psychiatrist specialising in the management of weight, eating related disorders and mood disorders and as well as the preparation of patients for metabolic surgery. She has a particular interest in working in an integrated way to help clients understand the interface between the physical and psychological. Her approach is trauma informed and encourages self-compassion and recovery using evidence-based approaches and therapies. Samantha’s work in the NHS employed by West London NHS Trust and based at the Imperial Weight Centre, St Mary’s Hospital.
Samantha sits on the Royal College of Psychiatry Faculty of Eating disorders, the Royal College of Physicians advisory group for weight and health and she founded and chair a special interest group for bariatric psychologists and psychiatrists in the UK who work in weight management. Samantha advocates against stigmatisation of people living with obesity and serious mental illness through promoting the improved dissemination of scientific knowledge about the neuroendocrine physiology and psychology regulating appetite and weight control and is a co-opted member of the NICE guidelines committee on weight management. Samantha has completed a PhD at Imperial College London, at the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, funded by the Welcome Trust Charity. Her research examined appetite and food reward changes in patients who have undergone bariatric surgery using functional magnetic resonance imaging and she has also published and speak internationally on psychological factors influencing weight and eating and the clinical management of bariatric patients.
