By creating the Weiner Hailey Family Professorship, Ken and Anita are bringing new capability and strength to the medical school and advancing the invaluable work of a leading scholar. Their gift, and Dr. Skeer’s work, will have far-reaching impact on understanding and preventing substance misuse and addiction.
Dr. Harris Berman, Dean of Tufts School of Medicine from 2011-2019
Professorship Background
This professorship was established in 2019 by Ken Weiner, MD, A73, M77, Anita Hailey, and their family. A national expert in the treatment of eating disorders, Ken Weiner is executive chairman and founding partner of Eating Recovery Center, a behavioral healthcare system for the treatment of eating disorders with 30 locations in seven states. The Weiner Hailey Family Professorship is held by a faculty member studying addiction prevention and intervention to support his or her teaching, research, service, and other activities. Additionally, the family established the Weiner Hailey Family Research Fund to support the Weiner Hailey Family Professor’s research activities.
The professorship gift reflects many of Weiner and Hailey’s shared interests, including mental health, research, and a deeply personal connection to substance abuse and recovery.
“Our son battled addiction in his early twenties,” Hailey explained, and was “one of the lucky ones” who found treatment. His recovery led him to the field of social work and a passion for addiction prevention and treatment. Supporting a child through addiction can be frightening and isolating for any family, Hailey noted, yet seeing their son find his purpose in life has been “a joy to watch,” and deepened their own commitment to helping others.
Weiner and Hailey consider themselves partners in careers, family, and philanthropy. Weiner, a double Jumbo who graduated from the School of Medicine in 1977, is a psychiatrist and widely respected leader in eating disorder treatment. He is the founder, former CEO, and current executive chairman of Eating Recovery Centers (ERC), an internationally known program for the treatment of severe eating disorders, with thirty centers in seven states. Describing his career’s blend of clinical work and entrepreneurship, he said, “I was trained to be a psychiatrist; I was born to be a business person.”
Hailey was born in Europe, to an Indian mother and an Austrian father. She received her Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from the University of Vienna. Her parents were diplomats, and her mother was among the first Indian women to serve in the United Nations. While Weiner has focused on leading ERC, Hailey focuses her time on their home and family. The couple affectionately describe ERC as their “fifth child.”
This spring, Weiner and Hailey attended a School of Medicine event that featured several faculty speakers, including Skeer. “Her intellect, passion, and commitment to substance abuse research” immediately resonated with their interests, Weiner said.
Dr. Margie Skeer is the first Tufts faculty member to hold this professorship.
Research takes the long view. . .and that makes confidence in the researcher all the more important. Dr. Skeer is very committed to identifying what sort of early interventions can make a difference and reduce the epidemic of addiction in this country.
Dr. Ken Weiner
Current and Future Research
Dr. Skeer’s research currently focuses on interpersonal communication and the role that family meals play in adolescent risk prevention. She has served as principal investigator on multiple studies to develop and test innovative interventions related to adolescent substance use prevention. These include a substance use preventive intervention geared toward parents of fifth- through seventh-grade students in schools in Greater Boston, funded through the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and a study in rural Idaho to develop a methamphetamine use prevention communication intervention for teens delivered by dental clinicians, funded by the DentaQuest Foundation. She was also funded to conduct qualitative research with parents and guardians and their high school–age children on perspectives around marijuana as the recreational law took effect in Massachusetts.
Receiving the Weiner Hailey Family Professorship is an honor, and the funds will enable Dr. Skeer to pursue promising work in key areas, including the role of family meals in reducing substance-related risks, and improving screening practices for opioid prescription, to better identify patients and risk factors that current screenings may miss.