Dr. Kara Christensen Pacella

Dr. Christensen Pacella received her doctoral degree in clinical psychology with a specialization in quantitative psychology from the Ohio State University in 2019 and completed her doctoral internship at the Medical University of South Carolina. She joined the faculty at UNLV in 2022, after completing a three-year postdoctoral clinical research fellowship in eating disorders at the University of Kansas. Dr. Christensen Pacella works across the translational research spectrum to develop, test, and disseminate interventions for disordered eating using novel clinical targets and methods of treatment delivery. Her research uses a variety of methodological approaches, including cross-sectional surveys, intensive longitudinal designs (e.g., EMA), qualitative studies (e.g., focus groups), and treatment designs (e.g., randomized controlled trials, single-case designs). She is a licensed clinical psychologist in NV with PSYPACT authorization.

She enjoys mentoring our next generation of psychology researchers, tending to her dogs’ every whims, and drinking multiple Diet Cokes in the morning.