About Us
Faculty
James Lock, MD, PhD
Dr. Lock is Professor of Child Psychiatry and Pediatrics in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine where he also serves as Director of the Eating Disorder Program for Children and Adolescents. Dr Lock has published over 200 articles, abstracts, and book chapters. He is the co-author of Treatment Manual for Anorexia Nervosa: A Family-Based Approach, Help Your Teenager Beat an Eating Disorder and Treating Bulimia in Adolescents: A Family-Based Approach. He has lectured widely in the US, Canada, South America, Europe, and Australia. He has been funded by the NIH to conduct treatment research in eating disorders continuously since 1997. Click on Dr. Lock’s name above to view his faculty bio and a list of representative publications.
Mary Sanders, PhD
Dr. Mary Sanders has worked in the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry department at Stanford for over 20 years and specializes in the treatment of eating disorders. Currently, she is an attending psychologist at the Comprehensive Care Unit at Stanford – an inpatient unit for individuals who have become medically compromised as a result of their eating disorder. She spends a portion of her time on research studies for anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.
Kathleen Kara Fitzpatrick, PhD
Dr. Kathleen Kara Fitzpatrick has worked in the Eating Disorders Clinic at Stanford for three years. She specializes in neuropsychological assessment of eating disorders and evaluation of treatments for children and adolescents. Her current research interests focus on the development of Cognitive Remediation Therapy (CRT), which utilizes neuropsychological components to address cognitive and behavioral difficulties associated with eating disorders. In addition to working as a therapist on research treatment studies, she also provides supervision to therapists on different treatment modalities.
Debra Safer, MD
Dr. Safer is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University Medical Center. Her research and clinical work focus on treating eating disorders in adults and adolescents, specifically binge eating disorder. She is involved as a study therapist in several treatment research studies.
Athena Robinson, PhD
Dr. Robinson is Licensed Clinical Psychologist and an Instructor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University Medical Center. She completed a Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship at Stanford University. Her research and clinical work specialties include eating disorders, overweight & obesity, emotion regulation, and behavior change interventions.
Postdoctoral Fellows
Alison Darcy, PhD
Dr. Alison Darcy is a post-doctoral research fellow in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. She conducted her PhD research in University College Dublin where she developed and evaluated a group cognitive behavioural therapy for people with chronic anorexia nervosa in St John of God Hospital’s inpatient program. She is a research therapist on many of the studies at Stanford and is currently conducting research on patients’ perspectives of treatment and Cognitive Remediation Therapy.
Lauren Pavlis, PhD
Dr. Lauren Pavlis is a clinical psychologist currently completing a postdoctoral fellowship in eating disorders. Her research and clinical interests are in the etiology and treatment of eating disorders and related problems in children and adolescents. Dr. Pavlis serves as a study therapist on a number of treatment studies (e.g., FBT for adolescents with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, and cognitive remediation therapy for anorexia nervosa).
Research Staff
Judy Beenhakker, MS
Judy obtained her degree in Clinical Child Psychology in Philadelphia and has been working in the lab as a research coordinator since early 2004. She just completed follow up on a 5-year dual site study comparing an individual treatment with family treatment for adolescent anorexia nervosa. Currently, she is coordinating a treatment study for adults with anorexia, with a conjunctive fMRI component.
Brittany Alvy
Britt is the research assistant who is coordinating the adolescent bulimia study. She is a Berkeley graduate who is interested in eventually pursuing graduate school for clinical psychology. Her clinical and research interests include the effects of mindfulness-based therapies on emotion regulation, as well as developmental psychopathology and social cognition. Outside the lab she enjoys travel, nature, and cultivating mindfulness.
Sarah Forsberg
Sarah has worked in the eating disorders research lab for over three years. She is currently a 2nd-year graduate student in clinical psychology at the PGSP-Stanford Consortium. Throughout her time in the lab, she has worked on various research projects including examining the effectiveness of family therapy for younger children with anorexia, perfectionism, athletes and eating disorders, and patient perspectives on treatment for AN. She hopes to continue conducting work in the lab, specifically around access to care and treatment seeking behaviors in ethnically and socioeconomically diverse populations.
Linsey Utzinger
Linsey has been a member of the eating disorders research team since July of 2008. Before joining the lab, she completed her bachelor's degree at the College of St. Benedict in Minnesota and spent two years coordinating research studies on childhood ADHD at Massachusetts General Hospital. Currently, she is coordinating a 5-year follow-up study on adolescents who participated in a previous study on anorexia nervosa. Linsey is also a graduate student in clinical psychology in the PGSP-Stanford Consortium program. Her interests include childhood and adolescent psychopathology, specifically eating disorders and the role of parents and siblings in symptom etiology and treatment.
Alaina Critchlow
Alaina recently graduated from Stanford University with a B.A. in Human Biology. While she specialized in International Health and Infectious Diseases, she is currently pursuing her interest in pediatric medicine. Following graduation, Alaina worked for Dr. Rebecka Peebles in Adolescent Medicine at Stanford investigating the medical complications of eating disorders. That position served as a perfect stepping stone to Alaina’s current work researching effective treatment methods for anorexia nervosa.
Elizabeth LoTempio
Elizabeth LoTempio is currently studying clinical psychology and is in her second year in the PGSP-Stanford PsyD Consortium. She graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from Boston University. She has been involved with the lab since January 2008 and currently conducts assessments for several of the research projects. Her research interests include prevention of eating problems in children and family-based treatment approaches.
Caroline Gudorf
Caroline is a fourth year PhD student in clinical psychology. She is currently working on the Cognitive Remediation study for adolescents with AN on the in-patient unit at Lucile Packard Hospital at Stanford. She will also be conducting neuropsychological testing on the adolescent BN study. Caroline is currently working with Dr. James Lock on her doctoral dissertation that is exploring neurocognitive processes in adolescent females diagnosed with AN. Her research and clinical interests include attachment theory as well as family based therapy for adolescents with ED.
Danielle Colborn
Danielle Colborn is a 4th year graduate student in clinical psychology at Alliant International University, and obtained her undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of California, Davis. Having worked with the eating disorders research lab since June, 2008, she is currently involved in research on the effectiveness of Cognitive Remediation Therapy (CRT) for adolescents with anorexia, and the neuropsychological functioning of individuals with eating disorders, particularly as it relates to weight and nutritional status. In addition, Danielle’s clinical and research interests include attachment, interpersonal relationships, and therapeutic alliance. When she is not doing research or studying she enjoys running, reading, and traveling.
