Kelly Costello Allison, PhD

Kelly C. Allison, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Co-Director of Education at the Center for Weight and Eating Disorders. She received her B.A. from the University of Notre Dame in 1995 and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Miami University in 1997 and 2000, respectively.

Dr. Allison's research interests include characterizing and treating the Night Eating Syndrome and the role of weight and eating behaviors on reproductive health. Dr. Allison co-leads didactic seminars for pre-doctoral psychology practicum students and supervises their clinical work. She serves as a faculty mentor for undergraduate and medical student research projects. Dr. Allison also enjoys providing cognitive behavioral therapy services related to weight loss and disordered eating through the Stunkard Weight Management Program, and she provides pre-operative bariatric surgery psychological evaluations.

Dr. Allison actively participates in the Obesity Society and the Academy for Eating Disorders, where she is a member of the Membership Recruitment and Retention Committee. She has published in peer-reviewed journals and has presented her work at various professional meetings.

Dr. Allison can be contacted at: Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, 3535 Market St., Suite 3021, Philadelphia, PA 19104-3309, 215-898-7314. Her e-mail address is kca@mail.med.upenn.edu.

Recent publications include:

Allison KC, Lundgren JD, O’Reardon JP, Geliebter A, Gluck ME, Vinai P, Mitchell JE, Schenck CH, Howell MJ, Crow SJ, Engel S, Latzer Y, Tzischinsky O, Mahowald MW, Stunkard AJ.  Proposed diagnostic criteria for night eating syndrome. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 2010;43:241-247.

Allison KC, Lundgren JD, Moore RH, O’Reardon JP, Stunkard AJ.  Cognitive behavior therapy for night eating syndrome: a pilot study.  American Journal of Psychotherapy, 2010; 64:91-106.

McAlpine DE, Frisch MJ, Rome ES, Clark MM, Signore C, Lindroos AK, Allison KC.  Bariatric surgery: a primer for eating disorder professionals.  European Eating Disorders Review, in press.

Stunkard AJ, Allison KC, Lundgren JD, O’Reardon JP.  A biobehavioural model of night eating.  Obesity Reviews, 2009; 10 (Suppl 2): 69-77.

Allison KC, Lundgren JD, O’Reardon JP, Martino NS, Sarwer DB, Wadden TA, Crosby RD, Engel SG, Stunkard AJ. The Night Eating Questionnaire (NEQ): psychometric properties of a measure of severity of the night eating syndrome. Eating Behaviors, 2008; 9:62-72.