Karen Mitchell, PhD
Associate Professor
Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Psychiatry
General Psychiatry

PhD, Virginia Commonwealth University
MS, Virginia Commonwealth University
BS, Virginia Commonwealth University



Dr. Mitchell is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine. In addition, she has been a staff psychologist at the Women’s Health Sciences Division of the National Center for PTSD at VA Boston Healthcare System since 2009. She completed her PhD in Counseling Psychology (sub-speciality in Quantitative Methodology) at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2009. While in graduate school, she completed a pre-doctoral fellowship on an NIMH T32 in Psychiatric and Statistical Genetics at the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics (Richmond, VA). Dr. Mitchell completed her pre-doctoral internship in Health Psychology at the Cleveland VA Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Her research interests include eating disorders, obesity, behavior genetics, PTSD, and complementary and alternative medicine (particularly yoga). Methodologies used include twin modeling, network science, epigenetic mechanisms, hierarchical linear modeling, and structural equation modeling. As a licensed clinical psychologist, Dr. Mitchell’s clinical interests include eating disorders, PTSD, and health psychology, including obesity and metabolic disorders.

Clinical Research Psychologist
VA Boston Healthcare System
National Center for PTSD
Women’s Health Sciences Division



Gene-Environment Interplay in the Comorbidity of PTSD and Disordered Eating
04/15/2012 - 09/30/2016 (PI)
NIH/National Institute of Mental Health
5K01MH093750-04

Personnel agreement for research services of Brooke Bartlett
12/15/2013 - 06/30/2016 (PI)
VA Boston Healthcare System




Title
Gene-Environment Interplay in the Comorbidity of PTSD and Disordered Eating
(PI)

A Pilot Study on the Effectiveness of Yoga for PTSD in Women
(PI)

Eating Disorders in Veterans: Prevalence, Comorbidity, Risk and Healthcare Use
(PI)

Eating Disorders in Veterans: Risk, Resilience, and Service Use
(PI)


Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.

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  1. Zelkowitz RL, Knutson EK, Kehle-Forbes S, Smith BN, Mitchell KS. Associations of self-directed violence among traumatic stress correlates: Network analysis and comparison in veteran men and women. J Affect Disord. 2025 Dec 15; 391:120017.View Related Profiles. PMID: 40835186; PMCID: PMC12506226; DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2025.120017;
     
  2. Termorshuizen JD, Davies HL, Lee SH, Dennis JK, Hübel C, Johnson JS, Lu Y, Munn-Chernoff MA, Peters T, Qi B, Schaumberg KE, Signer RH, Singh K, Ter Kuile AR, Thornton LM, Xu J, Yao S, Yilmaz Z, Zhang R, Zvrskovec J, Abdulkadir M, Ayorech Z, Corfield EC, Havdahl A, Krebs K, Mack TM, Niarchou M, Palviainen T, Sealock JM, Baker JH, Bergen AW, Birgegård A, Perica VB, Bühren K, Burghardt R, Cassina M, Collantoni E, Crowley JJ, Danner UN, Degenhardt F, DeSocio JE, Dina C, Dmitrzak-Weglarz M, Duncan LE, Egberts KM, Foretova L, Giegling I, Gonidakis F, Gordon SD, Grove J, Guillaume S, Guintivano JD, Hartman AM, Hatzikotoulas K, Herms S, Imgart H, Jiménez-Murcia S, Julià A, Kalsi G, Kaminská D, Karhunen LJ, Kiezebrink KM, Kolb T, Larsen JT, Li D, Lilenfeld L, Maj M, Mattingsdal M, Meneguzzo P, Miller AL, Mitchell KS, Monteleone AM, Olsen CM, Padyukov L, Pantel J, Parker R, Pinto D, Raevuori A, Ripatti S, Roberts ME, Santonastaso P, Savva A, Schmidt UH, Schosser A, Seitz J, Slachtova LL, Slopien A, Sorbi S, Straub PS, Szatkiewicz JP, Tam FI, Tenconi E, Tortorella A, Tsitsika A, van Elburg AA, Wagner G, Watson HJ, Adan RA, Alfredsson L, Andreassen OA, Ask H, Brandt HA, Crawford S, Crow S, Davis LK, de Zwaan M, Dedoussis G, Dick DM, Ehrlich S, Estivill X, Favaro A, Fernández-Aranda F, Fischer K, Forstner AJ, Gorwood P, Hakonarson H, Hebebrand J, Herpertz-Dahlmann B, Hinney A, Hudson JI, Johnson C, Jordan J, Kaplan AS, Kaprio J, Karwautz AF, Kas MJ, Kaye WH, Kennedy JL, Kennedy MA, Keski-Rahkonen A, Kim YR, Klump KL, Landén M, Le Hellard S, Lehto K, Lissowska J, Maguire SL, Martin NG, Mattheisen M, Medland SE, Micali N, Mitchell JE, Monteleone P, Mortensen PB, Nacmias B, Ophoff RA, Papezova H, Pedersen NL, Petersen LV, Rajcsanyi LS, Ramoz N, Reichborn-Kjennerud T, Ricca V, Ripke S, Rujescu D, Rybakowski F, Scherer SW, Slof-Op 't Landt MC, Sullivan PF, Swiatkowska B, van Furth EF, Wade TD, Werge T, Whiteman DC, Woodside DB, Zipfel S, Bulik CM, Huckins LM, Breen G, Coleman JR. Genome-wide association studies of binge eating behaviour and anorexia nervosa yield insights into the unique and shared biology of eating disorder phenotypes. medRxiv. 2025 May 08. PMID: 40385383; PMCID: PMC12083633; DOI: 10.1101/2025.01.31.25321397;
     
  3. Mitchell KS, Serier KN, Vogt DS, Smith BN, Cooper Z. Eating disorder screening measures in post-9/11 veteran men and women. Psychol Assess. 2025 Apr; 37(4):172-179.View Related Profiles. PMID: 40167541
     
  4. Taverna E, Iverson KM, Kumar SA, Vogt D, Mitchell KS. Beyond Physical and Mental Health: The Broader Impacts of Intimate Partner Violence on Psychosocial Well-Being Among Women and Men Veterans. Stress Health. 2025 Feb; 41(1):e3526.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39760934; PMCID: PMC11898211; DOI: 10.1002/smi.3526;
     
  5. Serier KN, Zelkowitz RL, Knutson EK, Vogt D, Smith BN, Mitchell KS. Investigating the Psychometric Properties and Measurement Invariance of the Forms of Self-Criticizing/Attacking and Self-Reassuring Scale in Veteran Men and Women. J Psychopathol Behav Assess. 2025 Mar; 47(1).View Related Profiles. PMID: 40881651; PMCID: PMC12383283; DOI: 10.1007/s10862-025-10192-1;
     
  6. Kumar SA, Vogt D, Miller AN, Mitchell KS, Brock RL, DiLillo D. Posttraumatic resilience and growth: A network analysis of character strengths among sexual assault survivors. Psychol Trauma. 2025 Jan 23.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39847016; PMCID: PMC12284090; DOI: 10.1037/tra0001857;
     
  7. Grotzinger AD, Werme J, Peyrot WJ, Frei O, de Leeuw C, Bicks LK, Guo Q, Margolis MP, Coombes BJ, Batzler A, Pazdernik V, Biernacka JM, Andreassen OA, Anttila V, Børglum AD, Cai N, Demontis D, Edenberg HJ, Faraone SV, Franke B, Gandal MJ, Gelernter J, Hettema JM, Jonas KG, Knowles JA, Koenen KC, Maihofer AX, Mallard TT, Mattheisen M, Mitchell KS, Neale BM, Nievergelt CM, Nurnberger JI, O'Connell KS, Robinson EB, Sanchez-Roige SS, Santangelo SL, Stefansson H, Stefansson K, Stein MB, Strom NI, Thornton LM, Tucker-Drob EM, Verhulst B, Waldman ID, Walters GB, Wray NR, Lee PH, Kendler KS, Smoller JW. The Landscape of Shared and Divergent Genetic Influences across 14 Psychiatric Disorders. medRxiv. 2025 Jan 15. PMID: 40568675; PMCID: PMC12191084; DOI: 10.1101/2025.01.14.25320574;
     
  8. Kumar SA, Taverna E, Mitchell KS, Smith BN, Vogt D. Purpose in life and posttraumatic stress symptoms among military veterans: A network analysis. Mil Psychol. 2025 Jan 07; 1-13.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39772860
     
  9. Serier KN, Knutson EK, Vogt D, Smith BN, Kehle-Forbes S, Mitchell KS. Examining the factor structure of the nine-item Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder Screen in a national U.S. military veteran sample. Psychol Assess. 2025 Mar; 37(3):123-128.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39666477; PMCID: PMC12022919; DOI: 10.1037/pas0001362;
     
  10. Cooper Z, Smith BN, Kehle-Forbes S, Dorset J, Mitchell KS. Eating Disorders, Co-Morbid Disorders and Early Risk Factors Amongst Post-9/11 Veteran Men and Women. J Clin Psychol. 2025 Mar; 81(3):133-144.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39648640; PMCID: PMC11802485; DOI: 10.1002/jclp.23756;
     
Showing 10 of 97 results. Show More

This graph shows the total number of publications by year, by first, middle/unknown, or last author.

Bar chart showing 97 publications over 22 distinct years, with a maximum of 11 publications in 2014

YearPublications
20041
20055
20065
20073
20083
20092
20104
20115
20123
20135
201411
20153
20165
20175
20181
20191
20202
20217
20227
20234
20247
20258

2008 Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics: Kenneth S. Kendler Award for Excellence in Predoctoral Studies
2008 Virginia Commonwealth University: Counseling Psychology Student of the Year
2008 Academy for Eating Disorders: Travel Fellowship
2007 Behavioral Genetics Association: Travel Fellowship
2006 Virginia Commonwealth University: Phi Kappa Phi Scholarship
2005 Virginia Commonwealth University: Psychology Scholarship Award for Master’s Level Student
In addition to these self-described keywords below, a list of MeSH based concepts is available here.

Eating Disorders
Genetics
Obesity
PTSD
Women's Health
Contact for Mentoring:

72 E. Concord St Building A
Boston MA 02118
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