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)


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. 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
     
  2. 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
     
  3. 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. 2024 Dec 12.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39666477
     
  4. 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. 2024 Dec 08.View Related Profiles. PMID: 39648640
     
  5. 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
     
  6. 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
     
  7. 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;
     
  8. Huckins LM, Signer R, Johnson J, Wu YK, Mitchell KS, Bulik CM. What Next for Eating Disorder Genetics? Replacing Myths With Facts to Sharpen Our Understanding. Focus (Am Psychiatr Publ). 2024 Jul; 22(3):418-429. PMID: 38988461; PMCID: PMC11231467; DOI: 10.1176/appi.focus.24022014;
     
  9. Zelkowitz RL, Serier KN, Smith BN, Kehle-Forbes S, Vogt DS, Mitchell KS. Identifying candidate mechanisms of comorbidity in disordered eating and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms among U.S. veterans: A network analytic approach. Psychol Trauma. 2024 Apr 15.View Related Profiles. PMID: 38619481
     
  10. Serier KN, Zhao Z, Vogt D, Kehle-Forbes S, Smith BN, Mitchell KS. The impact of stress and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in U.S. veterans. Stress Health. 2024 Jun; 40(3):e3357.View Related Profiles. PMID: 38126682
     
Showing 10 of 91 results. Show More

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

Bar chart showing 91 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
20252

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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72 E. Concord St Building A
Boston MA 02118
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