Associate Professor Evelyn Smith

Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology in the School of Psychology

Biography

I am a clinical psychologist specialising in eating disorders and obesity. I am an Associate Editor of the journal Clinical Obesity.

My main research program has focused on the possible effects of obesity and associated correlates (inflammation, arterial stiffness, diabetes) on cognition, and whether cognition and cognitive processes impact on eating behaviour and body image. I have also focused on developing or modifying treatments for obesity and eating disorders (attention training therapy, cognitive remediation therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy, schema therapy).

My passion is bringing experimental approaches to obesity and eating disorders research, with the aim of understanding the determinants, consequences and management of obesity/eating disorders and comorbid psychopathology.

As a clinical psychologist, I work closely with other health professionals, and capitalise on the different associated ways of thinking about each research problem.

I completed my undergraduate degree (2002-2004), graduate diploma (2005) and PhD (2006- November 2010) at the University of Sydney. In my PhD I conducted experiments to investigate the relationship between attentional biases and eating disorders, and conducted a randomised controlled trial on attentional bias modification training for eating disorders.

I then took a position at UNSW School of Psychiatry as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow working part-time with Professor Julian Trollor and Professor Perminder Sachdev (2011-2014). At the same time I completed a Master in Clinical Psychology at Western Sydney University (2011-2012). I commenced another Postdoctoral position at the University of Sydney (conjoint with St Vincent's Hospital) in April 2014 working with Prof Vicki Flood, but then secured the position as Lecturer in Psychology at Western Sydney University in February 2015. I was the acting Director of the Clinical and Health Psychology Research Initiative from June 2015 to June 2016. I was promoted to Senior Lecturer in Psychology in January 2017, and shortly after secured a competitive position as Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology within WSU, teaching Master in Clinical Psychology students exclusively. I was the Head of the Eating Disorders and Obesity Psychology Research Clinic in 2016 and 2017.

Research Interests

  • Ageing
  • Diabetes
  • Eating disorders
  • Inflammation
  • Obesity
  • Psychological Treatments
  • Psychology

Qualifications and Recognition

  • PhD University of Sydney
  • Master in Psychology (Clinical)
  • GradDipPsych University of Sydney
  • BSc(Psych) University of Sydney

Research and Publications

https://research-report.uws.edu.au/wpubs/Portal.asp

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Evelyn.Smith@westernsydney.edu.au