Cynthia Bulik, PhD, FAED
About
Dr. Bulik, a clinical psychologist, is Distinguished Professor of Eating Disorders in the Department of Psychiatry, professor of nutrition in the Gillings School of Global Public Health and founding director of the UNC Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders.
She is also professor of medical epidemiology and biostatistics at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, where she spends half of her time.
Her research includes treatment, laboratory, epidemiological, twin and molecular genetic studies of eating disorders and weight regulation. She has written more than 590 scientific papers and chapters on eating disorders and is the author of Crave: Why You Binge Eat and How to Stop, The Woman in the Mirror, Midlife Eating Disorders: Your Journey to Recovery, and Binge Control: A Compact Recovery Guide.
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 and the Women’s Leadership Council Faculty-to-Faculty Mentorship Award.
Dr. Bulik is 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. She 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 performing as an ice dancer and ballroom dancer.
Cynthia Bulik in the Gillings News
- Expertscape recognizes several Gillings faculty as top-rated in their fields
- Rice named assistant dean for master’s degree programs at the Gillings School
- Addressing pandemic problems
- The latest COVID-19 science — easily understood through a new dashboard
- NIH funds community engagement research efforts in areas hardest hit by COVID-19
Honors and Awards
The David Packard Lectureship
2017, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
Erskine Fellowship
2016, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
Don and Melissa Nielsen Lifetime Achievement Award
2016, National Eating Disorders Association
Hilde Bruch Award
2015
Academy for Eating Disorders Leadership in Research Award
2006, Academy for Eating Disorders
Carolina Women's Advocacy Award
2006, Carolina Women's Advocacy Award
Hulka Innovators Award
2005, Hulka
Eating Disorders Coalition Research Award
2004, Eating Disorders Coalition
Special Recognition for Support, Prevention and Work with Eating Disorders in Latin America, Hispano Latino American SIG
2004, Hispano Latino American SIG
Richmond Top Doctors for Women (Eating Disorders)
2001, Richmond Top Doctors for Women
Fellow North American Association for the Study of Obesity
2000, North American Association for the Study of Obesity
New Investigator Travel Award: North American Association for the Study of Obesity
1997, North American Association for the Study of Obesity
Founding Fellow Academy for Eating Disorders
1996, Academy for Eating Disorders
Young Investigator Travel Award: Committee on Problems of Drug Dependence
1989, Committee on Problems of Drug Dependence
1st Place, Pennsylvania Psychological Assoc. Graduate Student Achievement Award
1987, Pennsylvania Psychological Association
Phi Beta Kappa Dissertation Award
1987, Phi Beta Kappa
UC Berkeley Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award
1987, UC Berkeley
Founder Region Soroptomists' Fellowship
1986, Soroptomists
University of California Regents' Fellowships
1986, University of California
Distinctive Achievement in Psychology Award
1982, Distinctive Achievement in Psychology Award
Phi Beta Kappa
1982, Phi Beta Kappa
Summa Cum Laude
1982, University of Notre Dame
Key Publications
Anorexia nervosa genome-wide association study identifies eight loci and implicates metabo-psychiatric origins (in press). Watson HJ, Yilmaz Z, Thornton LM, Hübel C, Coleman JR, Gaspar HA, …Bulik, CM (2019). Nature Genetics.
Genome-wide association study reveals first locus for anorexia nervosa and metabolic correlations. Duncan, L.E., Yilmaz, Z., Gaspar, H., Walters, R., Goldstein, J., Antilla, V., Bulik-Sullivan, B., Ripke, S., Eating Disorders Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, Thornton, L.M., Hinney, A., Daly, M.J., Sullivan, P.F., Zeggini, E., Breen, G., Bulik, C.M (2017). American Journal of Psychiatry, (174), 850-858.
The incidence of eating disorders in a nationwide study: Associations with suicide risk and mortality. Zerwas S, Larsen JT, Petersen L, Thornton LM, Mortensen PB, Bulik CM (2015). Journal of Psychiatric Research, 65(1), 16-22.
The intestinal microbiota in acute anorexia nervosa and during renourishment: Relationship to depression, anxiety, and eating disorder psychopathology. Kleiman SC, Watson HJ, Bulik-Sullivan EC, Huh EY, Tarantino LM, Bulik CM, Carroll IM (2015). Psychosomatic Medicine, 77(9), 969-981.
Eating disorders, pregnancy, and the post-partum period: A review of findings from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). Watson HJ, Torgersen L, Zerwas S, Reichborn-Kjennerud T, Knopf C, Siega-Riz A, et al. (2014). Norsk Epidemiologi (The Norwegian Journal of Epidemiology), 24(1), 51-62.
A genome-wide association study of anorexia nervosa. Boraska V, Franklin CS, Floyd JAB, Thornton LM, Huckins LM, Southam L, et al. (2014). Molecular Psychiatry, 19(1), 1085-1094.
Suicide attempts in women with eating disorders. Pisetsky EM, Thornton LM, Lichtenstein P, Pedersen NL, Bulik CM (2013). Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 122(1), 1042-1056.
Education
- Postdoc, Psychiatry Research, University of Pittsburgh, 1990
- Postdoc, Psychiatry Research, University of Pittsburgh, 1989
- PhD, Clinical Psychology, University of California, 1988
- MA, Clinical Psychology, University of California, 1985
- BA, Psychology, University of Notre Dame, 1982
