She has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Kansas, and completed her clinical internship at Duke University Medical Center. Before coming to UC San Diego in 2011, she held a clinical faculty appointment at the University of Washington, was a supervisor in Marsha Linehan's DBT training clinic, and was a staff psychologist at the DBT Center of Seattle. Her research interests are in eating disorder treatment development and evaluation, especially with regards to adaptations of DBT and family based treatment, and she has written multiple peer-reviewed articles and two books in this area. She is currently serving as the Co-Chair of the Academy of Eating Disorders Suicide Special Interest Group and the Associate Editor of Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention.