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

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