Ellen Fitzsimmons-Craft

Ellen Fitzsimmons-Craft

Associate Professor of Psychiatry

Additional Titles & Roles

  • Associate Director, mHealth Research Core (MHRC)
  • Faculty Scholar, Institute for Public Health
  • Member, Center for Diabetes Translation Research

Education & Training

  • Postdoctoral Training: Washington University, St. Louis, MO, 2016
  • Predoctoral Internship: The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 2014
  • PhD: Clinical Psychology: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, 2014
  • MA: Clinical Psychology: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, 2010
  • BA: Psychology: University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 2008

Major Awards

  • Lifetime Fellow, Academy for Eating Disorders, 2021
  • Expertscape World Expert in Feeding and Eating Disorders, 2021
  • Implementation Science Scholars (IS-2) Mentored Training Program, 2020
  • NIMH K08 Career Development Award, 2019
  • mHealth Scholar for the 2019 mHealth Training Institute (mHTI), 2019
  • Martin S. Wallach Award for the Outstanding Doctoral Candidate in Clinical Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2013

Areas of Clinical Interest

eating disorders, weight management, anxiety

Research Interests

Ellen Fitzsimmons-Craft, PhD is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine and a licensed clinical psychologist. She has established programmatic lines of research centering on the use of technology for eating disorder prevention and treatment, eating disorder screening, sociocultural etiological and maintenance factors for eating disorders, eating disorder recovery, and college mental health. Ultimately Dr. Fitzsimmons-Craft’s work aims to disseminate evidence-based interventions from research to practice as well as extend treatments in ways that will reach the large number of people in need of care for mental health problems but who are not receiving services. She is a Fellow in the Academy for Eating Disorders, is a current recipient of a National Institute of Mental Health K08 Career Development Award, and has authored more than 110 peer-reviewed publications that have been collectively cited over 4,000 times in the literature. Dr. Fitzsimmons-Craft is passionate about increasing access to scalable, evidence-based mental health services, collaborating with numerous industry partners, non-profit organizations, including the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) and the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD), and statewide groups in the U.S. in order to do so. Her work has been featured in high-profile media outlets including Wired, Forbes, Scientific American, Slate, and The Verge.

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Key Publications

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    Funded Research Projects

    U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (MPI): Harnessing State-Wide Partnerships and Technology to Expand Access to Care for Eating Disorders in Adolescent Girls in the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond (ASTWH220112)

    National Eating Disorders Association Feeding Hope Fund (MPI): Online Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Intervention Adaptation for Adults with Bulimia Nervosa and Binge Eating Disorder on Public Health Insurance

    NIMH (PI): Development and Pilot Testing of a Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy-Guided Self-Help Mobile App for the Post-Acute Treatment of Anorexia Nervosa (R34 MH127203)

    Washington University Center for Dissemination and Implementation of the Institute for Public Health (PI): Digital Platform for Dissemination & Implementation of Eating Disorders Treatment (CDI_2020-04-PG)

    NIMH (PI): Developing a Conversational Agent or “Chatbot” to Facilitate Mental Health Services Use in Individuals with Eating Disorders (K08 MH120341)

    Washington University Center for Diabetes Translation Research (PI): Developing and Piloting a Virtual Reality Experience to Address Childhood Obesity

    NIMH (Co-I): Leveraging Social Media to Identify and Connect Teens with Eating Disorders to a Guided Self-Help Mobile Intervention (R34 MH119170)

    National Eating Disorders Association Feeding Hope Fund (Co-I): Automating Coaching to Facilitate Dissemination of an Effective Prevention Program for Eating Disorders

    NIMH (Co-I): Harnessing Mobile Technology to Reduce Mental Health Disorders in College Populations (R01 MH115128)

    NIMH (Co-I): Investigating the Promotion of Eating Disorders on Twitter: Implications for Online Intervention (R21 MH112331)

    NIMH (Significant Contributor): Using Technology to Improve Eating Disorders Treatment (R01 MH100455)

    NIMH (Significant Contributor): Implementation of Evidence-based Treatments for On-campus Eating Disorders (R01 MH095748)

    Missouri Coalition for Community Behavioral Healthcare (Executive Director): Missouri Eating Disorders Council Training Initiative

    Missouri Coalition for Community Behavioral Healthcare (Significant Contributor): Missouri Eating Disorders Council Healthy Body Image Program Project Coordination