Principal Investigator:
Dr. Pamela Keel
she/her/hers
Pamela K. Keel, Ph.D., is Distinguished Research Professor and Director of the Eating Behaviors Research Clinic in the Department of Psychology at Florida State University. She received her A.B. in Anthropology summa cum laude from Harvard University in 1992, Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Minnesota in 1998 and completed her clinical psychology internship at Duke University Medical Center in 1998. Dr. Keel has received grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for her research on the nosology, biology, epidemiology, and longitudinal course of bulimic syndromes. In addition, Dr. Keel is co-Principal Investigator and co-Director of the NIMH-funded Integrated Clinical Neuroscience Training Program at Florida State University. She currently serves on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Eating Disorders and Eating Disorders, and is a past Associate Editor for the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, and was a standing member of a grant review panel for the NIH Center for Scientific Review. Dr. Keel was elected as a Fellow of the Academy for Eating Disorders in 2006, Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science in 2013, and Fellow of the American Psychological Association in 2014. She served as President for the Eating Disorders Research Society in 2009-2010 and President for the Academy for Eating Disorders in 2013-2014 and received the Leadership Award in Research from the Academy for Eating Disorders in 2019.
Graduate Students:
Elizabeth Fitzgerald
Elizabeth is a sixth year graduate student in the Keel Lab. She graduated from Bard College with a BA in psychology and obtained her MS in Clinical Psychology from FSU. Her research interests include emotional and personality risk and maintenance factors for eating pathology. Her Master's thesis examined the predictive ability of psychological factors, including perfectionism and maturity fears, on eating pathology at 10-, 20-, and 30-year follow-up. Currently she is working on her dissertation which focuses on the role of regulating negative and positive emotion on eating behavior. She is also completing her clinical internship in the CBT track at UT Health at San Antonio.
Madeline Wick
Madeline is a sixth-year doctoral candidate in the Keel lab at Florida State University. She received her BA in Psychology from Pepperdine University in 2017 and her MS in Clinical Psychology from Florida State University in 2019. Madeline's program of research focuses on obtaining a deeper understanding of how specific aspects of social media usage affect risk with the goal of informing how social media can best be used in a healthy manner. She is currently working on her dissertation, which examines the effects of viewing social media influencer content on eating disorder risk factors.
Sarrah Ali
she/her/hers
Sarrah Ali is a third-year graduate student. She received her B.S. in Psychology from the University of California San Diego in 2016. She then joined the Nova Scotia Health Authority Eating Disorder Research Group, directed by Dr. Aaron Keshen, where she gained experience coordinating clinical trials for individuals with eating disorders. Sarrah is broadly interested in psychosocial risk and maintenance factors for eating disorders. She is currently working on projects exploring the relationship between deficits in self-concept clarity and eating disorder severity, as well as how ethnoracial status and its intersection with gender predict eating disorder pathology across adult development.
Project Coordinator:
Harmony Vides-Varini
Harmony graduated from Florida State University, summa cum laude with a B.S. in Psychology. While studying abroad with FSU in London, Harmony learned about Dr. Keel's ED research during a talk Dr. Keel gave at the Imperial College in London. Harmony joined the Eating Behaviors Research Clinic as an undergrad research assistant in 2022, where she began working on Dr. Keel's study: Eating Disorders Across Genders, Generations, and Adult Development Stages (AGGA), also known as the Harvard Health and Eating Patterns Study. In 2023, she was promoted to oversee the AGGA study as Project Coordinator of the Eating Behaviors Research Clinic. Given her dance background, Harmony is primarily interested in the prevalence of eating disorders in Competitive Dancers. In the future, she will pursue a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology.
Research Assistants:
Taylor Politi
Taylor graduated from Florida State University in Fall 2023 with a B.S. in Psychology and a minor in Child Development. After taking Dr.Keel’s “Eating Disorders in London” class while studying abroad, Taylor joined the Eating Behaviors Research Clinic as an undergraduate student research assistant in 2022. She currently works on Dr. Keel's study: Eating Disorders Across Genders, Generations, and Adult Development Stages (AGGA), as a post-baccalaureate Research Assistant and Clinical Interviewer. Taylor plans to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology and is interested in researching self-esteem, compulsive exercising, and disordered eating amongst athletes.
Kaleb Long
Kaleb graduated from Florida State University with a B.S. in Psychology and a minor in Biological Science in Fall 2023. He joined the Eating Behaviors Research Clinic in the Summer of 2023 as an undergraduate research assistant to work on Dr. Keel's study, Eating Disorders Across Genders, Generations, and Adult Development Stages (AGGA). Throughout the summer leading into the fall, Kaleb developed a keen interest in studying disordered eating and its contributing factors. This continued interest allowed Kaleb to advance from his undergraduate role to a research assistant position as a Clinical Interviewer following his graduation. Kaleb is currently interested in the effects of social media use on mental health and development and aspires to earn his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology.
InternFSU:
Kamryn Reynolds
Kamryn will be graduating from Florida State University in Spring 2024 with a B.S. in Behavioral Neuroscience and a minor in Chemistry. She joined the Eating Behaviors Research Clinic as a DIS student in Summer 2023 after searching for a captivating lab to jump start her career in research. Now, she works in the lab through the InternFSU program as a way to be more involved in prominent research that fascinates her. Kamryn plans to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology, focusing her research on developmental disorders in youth, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and how their affiliated diagnostics can be relieved through therapeutic interventions.
Undergrad Honors Thesis:
Samantha Strickland
Samantha Strickland is a senior set to graduate in Spring 2024 with a B.S. in Psychology, minor in Law & Philosophy, Honors in the Major, and a Global Citizenship Certificate. Driven by a desire to better understand the implications of up-and-coming social media trends in relation to eating disorders, Samantha is currently pursuing an Honors in the Major thesis exploring associations between TikTok and disordered eating under the direction of Dr. Keel. Samantha has had a paper published regarding African American opioid misuse initiation patterns and held internships with the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Science Foundation. She hopes to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in forensics.
Kenson Moore
Kenson, a junior at Florida State University, is on track to graduate in May 2025 with a B.S in Psychology and a minor in Sociology. Inspired by Dr. Keel’s "Eating Disorders" course, Kenson knew she wanted to be part of the lab. Currently, she is an active DIS student and a mentee in the Honors in the Major program, both under the direction of Dr. Keel. Her thesis explores the makeover trope in movies and the impact it has on appearance anxiety. Beyond academia, Kenson has practical experience from working at an Eating Disorder Facility. In the future, she will pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology.