Pamela K. Keel
This information is accurate as of the fellowship year indicated for each fellow.
Pamela K. Keel is an expert on eating disorders and body image. She has been exploring a heretofore-unrecognized form of eating pathology in which individuals purge regularly but do not consume exceptionally large amounts of food when they binge. Supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, Keel is defining the clinical features and biological correlates of this syndrome in order to elucidate the roles of impulsivity and satiety in bulimia nervosa.
As a Radcliffe fellow, Keel will conduct a study to capture the changing epidemiology of bulimia nervosa; evaluate its long-term correlates and consequences; and identify contributing factors to the development, maintenance, and outcome of this disorder. She proposes to provide cross-sectional comparisons of the prevalence of bulimia nervosa, based on a random sampling of twenty-four hundred Harvard/Radcliffe undergraduates from 1982 and 1992 and a new cohort of undergraduates from 2002. Keel plans to contact the original cohorts for follow-up evaluations. Her data will be archived at Radcliffe’s Murray Research Center.
A Radcliffe graduate with a degree in anthropology, Keel earned a PhD in clinical science and psychopathology research at the University of Minnesota. She has received the Young Investigator Award from the Eating Disorders Research Society as well as grants from the Minnesota Women Psychologists Association, the Price Foundation, and the American Psychological Association.
