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A collaborative partnership between the Friedman Center for Lymphedema Research & Treatment at Mount Sinai Beth Israel and Lipedema Simplified, LLC, the Lipedema Project is a comprehensive transmedia program to increase awareness and provide education, research and treatment for lipedema.

Lipedema is a disease involving abnormal fat deposition that can result in pain, immobility and lymphatic disturbances. With obesity reaching epidemic proportions and anti-fat bias prevalent in healthcare, it becomes critical that patients are correctly diagnosed and that resources are invested in understanding this disease and how it can be treated. The Friedman Center is committed to raising awareness, providing education, and funding research to identify treatment and a cure for lipedema.

We are currently working on these future offerings:

Lipedema Education

Proposed Research

Community Outreach

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Dr. Mark Smith

Mark L. Smith, MD, FACS Director, The Friedman Center Dr. Mark L. Smith is Chief of Plastic Surgery at Mount Sinai Beth Israel and Director of the Friedman Center for Lymphedema Research and Treatment. He is an expert in the field of cancer & lymphatic surgery and is double-fellowship trained in Microsurgery and Craniofacial Surgery. He is Professor of Clinical Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. As an international volunteer for the past 2 decades, he has performed reconstructive surgery and taught local surgeons in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Central America and South America. Dr. Mark Smith, Executive Producer

Catherine Seo

Catherine Seo, PhDc Director, Lipedema Simplified, LLC Catherine Seo, PhDc is Founder and Director of Lipedema Simplified LLC, and the director and producer of the documentary The Disease They Call FAT. When confronted with almost certain immobility and complications from misdiagnosed lipedema, she traveled the world interviewing other patients, doctors, surgeons and experts looking for answers. The documentary is this story. Catherine is currently a Ph.D. candidate (PhDc) at Fielding Graduate University in Media Psychology. Her research is focused on empowering women who experience the distortions of body image as represented in the media applying self-compassion and other meditation techniques. The Disease They Call FAT is her first documentary, but definitely not her last. Catherine Seo, Director & Producer

MORE ABOUT MARK AT THE FRIEDMAN CENTER>

MORE ABOUT CATHERINE AT LIPEDEMA SIMPLIFIED>

The Lipedema Project is pleased to announce the launch of our first lipedema awareness documentary, The Disease They Call FAT, a film by Catherine Seo.

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About The Friedman Center

The Friedman Center for Lymphedema Research and Treatment at The Center for Advanced Medicine at Northwell Health in New York was founded in 2013. Its focus has been in offering solutions for patients with lymphedema, a debilitating condition that occurs in many patients after cancer treatment.

The Friedman Center’s scope of care now includes treatment for lipedema, a condition that can also result in lymphedema. To that end, the Friedman Center has created the Lipedema Project, a comprehensive program to increase awareness and provide education, research and treatment for lipedema. The Friedman Center is proud to sponsor the lipedema documentary, The Disease They Call FAT, the 1st International Symposium on Lipedema, the Lipedema Think Tank, and the Lipedema Solutions Forum for women with lipedema in April 2015. www.lipedemaproject.org/symposium2015

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The numbness, the pins and needles, my legs are just not normal.
~Amanda, Stage 2 Lipedema

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It just didn't make any sense to me that I had lost so much weight, I was eating and exercising better than ever, and still my legs and hips didn't change.
~Lisa Marie, Stage 2 Lipedema

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People look at me and just say 'lose weight.' It's not that simple. It's not my fault.
~Ivonne, Stage 3 Lipedema

THE FRIEDMAN CENTER FOR LYMPHEDEMA RESEARCH & TREATMENT
10 Union Square East, Suite 2L, New York, New York, 10003 phone: 1-212-844-6590 [email protected]