Dr. Kelsie Forbush

Dr. Kelsie Forbush
  • CARE Director
  • Professor, Department of Clinical Child Psychology
  • Senior Scientist, Life Span Institute

Contact Info

Biography —

Dr. Kelsie Forbush has been conducting research and treatment in the field of eating disorders since 2000. She completed her undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Iowa under the mentorship of Dr. David Watson (Professor Emeritus at the University of Iowa and University of Notre Dame). She completed her internship/residency training at Western Psychiatric Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA, under the supervision and mentorship of Dr. Jennifer Wildes. Dr. Forbush has experience treating outpatients and inpatients with eating disorders, as well as experience working with families and individuals who have mood, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and personality disorders. She received Level 1 certification in Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), which she has used with individuals who have perinatal mood, anxiety, harmful substance use, and eating disorders. In her spare time, Dr. Forbush enjoys spending time with her husband and daughter, reading sci-fi books, attending performing arts concerts, taking ballet classes, spending time with friends, and training her two adorable Havanese dogs, Gus and Peanut.

Education —

Clinical Psychology Residency, UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital
Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology , University of Iowa

Research —

Dr. Forbush's research interest and center involve examining the reasons for diagnostic co-morbidity among eating, mood, and anxiety disorders and explicating the internal structure of eating pathology through scale development and assessment. Additionally, her center is conducting several research studies that are designed to understand the associations (both cross-sectional and longitudinal) between eating behaviors and various other types of psychological difficulties, as well as research designed to develop better ways of assessing, diagnosing, and treating abnormal eating behaviors. Finally, Dr. Forbush and her center have an emerging area of interest in the development of m-health interventions for eating disorders.

Selected Publications —

*Ayres, J., Forbush, K. T., †Bottera, A. R., †Chen, Y., & †Christensen Pacella, K. A. (in press). Ecological momentary assessment of between- and within-person sleep quality as a predictor of eating-disorder behaviors among young women with disordered eating. Appetite.

†Chen, Y., †Christensen, K. A., Forbush, K. T., *Thomeczek, M. L., *Negi, S., Doan, A. E., Wendler, A. M., *Morgan, R. W., *Rasheed, S. I., *Johnson-Munguia, S., & *Sharma, A. R. (in press). Examining associations between disordered eating and harmful substance use in a nationally representative sample of United States veterans. International Journal of Eating Disorders.

†Chen, Y., Forbush, K. T., Pleskac, T. (in press). Bayesian graded response modeling: A method for improving the discriminability and reducing the sample size needed for eating-disorder screening. Computational Brain and Behavior.

†Christensen-Pacella, K. A., †Chen, Y., †Bottera, A. R., & Forbush, K. T. (in press). Changes in insomnia and binge eating symptom severity before and after eating disorders treatment in individuals with non-low weight binge-spectrum disorders. Journal of Sleep Research.

Cicero, D., Ruggero, C. J., Balling, C. E., Bottera, A. R., Cheli, S., Forbush, K. T., Hopwood, C. J., Jonas, K. G., Justras-Aswad, D., Kotov, R., Levin-Aspenson, H. F., Mullins-Sweatt, S. N., *Johnson-Munguia, S., Narrow, W. E., *Negi, S., Patrick, C. J., Rodriguez-Seijas, C., Sheth, S., Simms, L. J., & *Thomeczek, M. L. (in press). State of the science: The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP). Behavior Therapy.

Forbush, K. T., †Chen, Y., Joo, S., *Hagan, K. E., *Richson, B. N., *Chapa, D. A. N., *Johnson-Munguia, S., †Christensen Pacella, K. A., †Bottera, A. R., *Thomeczek, M. L., *Bohrer, B. K., *Perko, V., *Negi, S., *Sharma, A. R., *Like, E. E., *Morgan, R. W., †Vanzhula, I. A., Tregarthen, J. Palacios, J., & Gould, S. R. (in press). Preliminary development and validation of the Eating Pathology Clinical Outcomes Tracker (EPCOT). Psychological Assessment.

Forbush, K.T., *Negi, S., *Thomeczek, M. L., †Bottera, A. R. (in press). From consensus to innovation: Advancing the science of eating-disorder measurement. International Journal of Eating Disorders.

*Negi, S., & Forbush, K. T. (in press). Help for Overcoming Problem Eating” (HOPE): A Single Session Intervention for College Students with Binge-Spectrum Eating Disorders. International Journal of Eating Disorders.

Forbush, K. T., †Chen, Y., Chen, P., *Bohrer, B. K., *Hagan, K. E., *Chapa, D. A. N., †Christensen, K. A., *Perko, V., *Richson, B. N., *Johnson-Munguia, S. N., *Thomeczek, M. L., Nelson, S. V., Christian, K., †Swanson, T. J., & Wildes, J. E. (2024). Integrating “lumpers” versus “splitters” perspectives: Toward a hierarchical dimensional taxonomy of eating disorders from clinician ratings. Clinical Psychological Science, 12, 625-643.

*Johnson-Munguia, S., †Bottera, A. R., †Vanzhula, I., Forbush, K. T., Gould, S. R., *Negi, S., ... & *Rasheed, S. (2024). Understanding community provider practices in diagnosing and treating atypical anorexia nervosa: A mixed methods study. The International Journal of Eating Disorders, 57, 892-902.

*Johnson-Munguia, S. N., *Negi, S., †Chen, Y., *Thomeczek, M. L., & Forbush, K. T. (2024). Eating disorder psychopathology, psychiatric impairment, and symptoms frequency of atypical anorexia nervosa versus anorexia nervosa: A systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 57, 761-779