Kelly Costello Allison, PhD, Director

Kelly Costello Allison, PhD

Kelly C. Allison, Ph.D. is a Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Director of the Center for Weight and Eating Disorders. She received her B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Miami University.

Dr. Allison's research interests include the timing of eating, night eating syndrome, binge eating disorder, and the role of weight and eating behaviors on reproductive health. She is also engaged in studies on bariatric surgery outcomes and clinical trials for weight and disordered eating. Dr. Allison enjoys providing psychotherapy related to weight management and disordered eating at CWED, and she provides pre-operative bariatric surgery psychological evaluations at Penn Medicine’s bariatric program. Additionally, she provides supervision and mentoring for pre- doctoral psychology students, medical students, postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty members.

Dr. Allison has also worked at the Philadelphia Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center where she provided cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia to veterans through the National Telemental Health program.

Dr. Allison is a Fellow of the Academy for Eating Disorders and a member of the Obesity Society. She has published over 150 peer-reviewed papers and chapters, and two books.

Dr. Allison can be contacted at: Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, 3535 Market St., Suite 3029, Philadelphia, PA 19104-3309, 215-898-2823. Her e-mail address is kca@pennmedicine.upenn.edu.

Recent publications include:

Asch DA, Buresh J, Allison KC, Islam N, Sheils NE, Doshi JA, Werner RM. Trends in US patients receiving care for eating disorders and other common behavioral health conditions before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. JAMA Network Open, 4(11):e2134913, 2021. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.34913.

Allison KC, Hopkins CM, Ruggieri M, Spaeth AM, Ahima RS, Zhang Z, Taylor DM, Goel N. Prolonged, controlled daytime versus delayed eating impacts weight and metabolism. Current Biology, 31(3):650-657.e3, 2021. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.10.092.

Schulte EM, Wadden TA, Allison KC. An evaluation of food addiction as a distinct psychiatric disorder. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 53(10):1610-1622, 2020. doi: 10.1002/eat.23350.

Veronda AC, Allison KC, Crosby RD, Irish LA. Development, validation and reliability of the Chrononutrition Profile – Questionnaire. Chronobiology International, 37(3):375-394, 2020. doi: 10.1080/07420528.2019.1692349.

Sarwer DB, Wadden TA, Ashare RL, Spitzer JC, McCuen-Wurst C, LaGrotte C, Williams NN, Edwards M, Tewksbury C, Wu J, Tajeu G, Allison KC. Psychopathology, disordered eating, and impulsivity in patients seeking bariatric surgery. Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases,15(4):650-655, 2019. doi: 10.1016/j.soard.2019.01.029.


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