Cynthia M. Bulik

Cynthia M. Bulik, Ph.D., FAED, is the Distinguished Professor of Eating Disorders at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she is also Professor of Nutrition in the Gillings School of Global Public Health and the Director of the UNC Eating Disorders Program. A clinical psychologist by training, Dr. Bulik has been conducting research and treating individuals with eating disorders for over two decades. She received her B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. She completed internships and post-doctoral fellowships at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She developed outpatient, day patient, and inpatient services for eating disorders both in New Zealand and in the United States. Her research has included treatment, laboratory, epidemiological, twin and molecular genetic studies of eating disorders and body weight regulation. She also develops innovative means of integrating technology into treatment for eating disorders and obesity. She has active research collaborations throughout the United States and in twenty countries around the world. Dr. Bulik has written over 400 scientific papers and chapters on eating disorders and is author of Eating Disorders: Detection and Treatment (Dunmore), Runaway Eating (Rodale), Crave: Why You Binge Eat and How to Stop (Walker), and Abnormal Psychology(Prentice Hall). She is a recipient of the Eating Disorders Coalition Research Award, the Academy for Eating Disorders Leadership Award for Research, the Price Family National Eating Disorders Association Research Award, Carolina Women’s Center Women’s Advocacy Award, the Women’s Leadership Council Faculty-to-Faculty Mentorship Award, the František Faltus Award, and the Academy for Eating Disorders Meehan-Hartley Advocacy Award. She is a past president of the Academy for Eating Disorders, past Vice-President of the Eating Disorders Coalition, and past Associate Editor of the International Journal of Eating Disorders. Dr. Bulik holds the first endowed professorship in eating disorders in the United States. Her academic life is balanced by being happily married with three children and a gold medalist ice dancer.