Philip S. Mehler, MD, FACP, FAED, CEDS
Philip S. Mehler, MD, FACP, FAED, CEDS, founded the ACUTE Center for Eating Disorders & Severe Malnutrition in 2001. He began his career at Denver Health more than 35 years ago and previously served as Chief of Internal Medicine and later as Chief Medical Officer before being promoted to Medical Director, a position he held until his retirement in 2014.
Dr. Mehler is the Glassman Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and has devoted decades to advancing the medical treatment of severe anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. He has authored more than 600 scientific publications, including Whole Blood Thiamine Levels in Extreme Anorexia Nervosa: A Pilot Study and five textbooks published by Johns Hopkins University Press. Since the early 1990s, he has lectured extensively at the national and international levels as a leading expert on the medical complications of eating disorders.
In recognition of his contributions to the field, Dr. Mehler received the Academy of Eating Disorders Outstanding Clinician Award in 2012. In 2023, he was honored with the iaedp™ Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2025, he received the Academy of Eating Disorders Lifetime Achievement Award, making him the only individual to have received lifetime honors from both organizations. He has also been recognized among “Best Doctors in America” for 23 consecutive years and was named “Top Internal Medicine Physician in Denver” multiple times by 5280 Magazine.
Dr. Mehler is a member and Fellow of the Eating Disorders Research Society and the Academy of Eating Disorders. He serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Eating Disorders and is Senior Editor of the Journal of Eating Disorders.
Dr. Mehler retired from active clinical leadership in 2024 after more than three decades of dedicated service in academic medicine and eating disorder care. His legacy continues through the ongoing work of ACUTE, the clinicians he has mentored and the standards of care he helped establish for the medical treatment of severe eating disorders and malnutrition.
