Kelly Klump

MSU Foundation Professors College of Social Science

• MSU Foundation Professor

• Psychology

Bio

Kelly Klump, MSU Foundation Professor of Psychology, is pioneering research that is changing our understanding about the causes of eating disorders. She has discovered that psychosocial and cultural risk factors that often peak in women during puberty do not alone cause these serious disorders as has been long believed. Genetics plays a significant role in the development of eating disorders, and her groundbreaking research is bringing us closer to understanding why these disorders occur and how biology may interact with cultural risk factors.

Klump is a licensed psychologist and earned her BS in psychology summa cum laude from MSU and her MA and PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Minnesota. She completed her predoctoral internship at McLean Hospital  in  the Harvard University Medical School, and her postdoctoral fellowship at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Klump joined the Department of Psychology in 2000. She co-founded the Michigan State University Twin Registry, a population-based twin registry that includes over 25,000 twins. She has served as President of the Academy for Eating Disorders (AED). She is a Fellow of the AED and the Association for Psychological Science (APS). She currently serves as treasurer of the Behavior Genetics Association and as an advisory committee member for The Renfrew Center Clinical Excellence Board.