Kelly Klump
BIOGRAPHY
PhD, Clinical Psychology, University of Minnesota, 1998
MA, Clinical Psychology, University of Minnesota, 1996
BS, Psychology, Michigan State University, 1993
LINKS
RESEARCH
**Please note: Dr. Klump will be accepting a graduate student for the Fall 2025 admissions class. Please note that the GRE is now optional for our program, not required. Thank you!**
The Klump lab studies the etiology of eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, and subthreshold variations of these disorders. Our lab is interested in understanding developmental differences in risk factors across adolescence and adulthood, with a particular focus on the role of genetic factors and gonadal hormones in programming and activating risk across development.
We are also interested in the ways in which psychosocial (e.g., exposure to thin ideals, weight-based teasing), psychological (e.g., personality traits like impulsivity), and environmental (e.g., economic disadvantage) risk factors contribute to eating pathology and interact with genetic/biological risk.
We approach these research questions using a translational scientific framework that includes both human and animal studies. Dr. Klump co-directs the Michigan State University Twin Registry with Dr. Alex Burt, and many of our studies make use of this valuable resource.
Current Projects:
- Examination of the impact of oral contraceptive use (e.g., monophasic birth control pills) on risk for binge eating in female twins.
- Exploration of risk for eating disorders during perimenopause in women.
- Examination of the effects of androgens on risk for binge eating and other eating disorder symptoms in males during pre-adolescent and adolescent development.
- Identification of the neural mechanisms underlying the effects of ovarian hormones on binge eating risk in women.
- Investigation of the effects of gonadal hormones on neural development and binge eating from puberty into adulthood using a rodent model of binge eating.
Student Independent Research:
Undergraduate and graduate students are very active in all aspects of our lab. Examples of recent, independent research projects conducted by our students include:
- Examination of the role of stress and stress hormones in mediating associations between ovarian hormones and binge eating in women.
- Investigation of developmental differences in the impact of weight-based teasing on phenotypic and genetic risk for eating pathology across pre-adolescence and adolescence in girls.
- Exploration of the ways in which exposure to the thin ideal impacts phenotypic and genetic risk for eating pathology during adolescence.
- Examination of emotion regulation difficulties in binge eating, including their interactions with hormonal, genetic, and contextual (e.g., disadvantage) risk.
- Investigation of the role of parent-child relationships in the development of eating pathology before and during adolescence.
- Examination of the impact of economic disadvantage on risk for eating disorder symptoms.
- Exploration of risk factors for eating disorders in adolescents who identify as racial and ethnic minorities.
Undergraduate students who are interested in joining our lab should contact Dr. Kristen Culbert at culbertk@msu.edu.
Collaborators:
We could not conduct our work without the invaluable contributions of our collaborators here at MSU and at other universities! Current and past collaborators include:
- MSU: Drs. Kristen Culbert, Alex Burt, Cheryl Sisk, Jason Moser, Alex Johnson, Deborah Kashy, Amber Pearson
- Other universities: Drs. Pamela Keel (FSU), Ashley Gearhardt (U of Michigan), Adriene Beltz (U of Michigan), Michael Neale (VCU), Steven Boker (U of Virginia), Debra Katzman (U of Toronto)
Clinical and Teaching Focus
Dr. Klump is a licensed clinical psychologist who has supervised doctoral students in their psychotherapy work in the MSU Psychological Clinic. Her areas of clinical expertise include the treatment of eating disorders, anxiety disorders, and mood disorders using a cognitive behavioral therapy framework.
Dr. Klump’s teaching focuses on understanding and diagnosing psychopathology. At the undergraduate level, she teaches Abnormal Psychology (PSY 280). At the graduate level, she teaches the Behavior Disorders (PSY 853) course that teaches students how to diagnosis psychological disorders and engage in effective differential diagnosis across various developmental and cultural contexts. She also developed and directs the Psychology Department Grant Seminar that is offered to graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who are interested in learning and enhancing grant writing skills.