She earned her Master's degree and Ph.D. in Clinical and Health Psychology (2001) from MCP Hahnemann University in Philadelphia, PA. She completed her internship and postdoctoral fellowship in Behavioral Medicine at Brown University. She became faculty in the Department of Psychiatry at Brown in 2002 and currently holds an adjunct Assistant Professor position there. Dr. Phelan's principal research is on the treatment of obesity by interventions that have included behavior modification and medications. She is Co-Investigator of the National Weight Control Registry, which is an ongoing longitudinal study evaluating over 6,000 successful weight losers. Dr. Phelan is also conducting studies looking at the prevention of pregnancy-associated weight gain and obesity. She has several publications and numerous professional presentations in the area of obesity.