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.

Researcher
VA Boston Healthcare System




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)


Yr Title Project-Sub Proj Pubs
2024 Eating disorders in Veterans: Risk, resilience, and service use 5I01HX002435-03
2024 Eating disorders in Veterans: Risk, resilience, and service use 5I01HX002435-04
2020 Eating disorders in Veterans: Risk, resilience, and service use 5I01HX002435-02
2019 Eating disorders in Veterans: Risk, resilience, and service use 1I01HX002435-01A2
2015 Gene-Environment Interplay in the Comorbidity of PTSD and Disordered Eating 5K01MH093750-04 20
2014 Gene-Environment Interplay in the Comorbidity of PTSD and Disordered Eating 5K01MH093750-03 20
2013 Gene-Environment Interplay in the Comorbidity of PTSD and Disordered Eating 5K01MH093750-02 20
2012 Gene-Environment Interplay in the Comorbidity of PTSD and Disordered Eating 1K01MH093750-01A1 20

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.

iCite Analysis       Copy PMIDs To Clipboard

  1. 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;
     
  2. 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
     
  3. 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;
     
  4. 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
     
  5. 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
     
  6. 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;
     
  7. 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;
     
  8. Zelkowitz RL, Livingston WS, Knutson EK, Kehle-Forbes S, Vogt DS, Smith BN, Mitchell KS. Associations of military sexual harassment and assault with nonsuicidal self-injury: Examining gender and sexual orientation as moderators. J Psychiatr Res. 2024 Dec; 180:243-250.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39454491; PMCID: PMC11966702; DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2024.10.015;
     
  9. Serier KN, Livingston WS, Zelkowitz RL, Kehle-Forbes S, Smith BN, Mitchell KS. Examining posttraumatic cognitions as a pathway linking trauma exposure and eating disorder symptoms in veteran men and women: A replication and extension study. Eat Disord. 2024 Sep 15; 1-16.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39277845; PMCID: PMC11908981; DOI: 10.1080/10640266.2024.2391214;
     
  10. Mitchell KS, Serier KN, Smith BN, Vogt D. Associations between avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder profiles and trauma exposure in veteran men and women. J Clin Psychol. 2024 Dec; 80(12):2344-2356.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39264021; PMCID: PMC11656887; DOI: 10.1002/jclp.23743;
     
Showing 10 of 94 results. Show More

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

Bar chart showing 94 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
20255


Strong Need for Eating Disorder Screening in Patients With PTSD

Medscape 4/18/2023

Medical Campus Promotes 13 Faculty to Associate Professor

BU Today 7/30/2021

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
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