Karen S. Mitchell, PhD

Associate Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

Dr. Mitchell is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine. In addition, she has been a staff psychologist at the Women’s Health Sciences Division of the National Center for PTSD at VA Boston Healthcare System since 2009. She completed her PhD in Counseling Psychology (sub-speciality in Quantitative Methodology) at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2009. While in graduate school, she completed a pre-doctoral fellowship on an NIMH T32 in Psychiatric and Statistical Genetics at the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics (Richmond, VA). Dr. Mitchell completed her pre-doctoral internship in Health Psychology at the Cleveland VA Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Her research interests include eating disorders, obesity, behavior genetics, PTSD, and complementary and alternative medicine (particularly yoga). Methodologies used include twin modeling, network science, epigenetic mechanisms, hierarchical linear modeling, and structural equation modeling. As a licensed clinical psychologist, Dr. Mitchell’s clinical interests include eating disorders, PTSD, and health psychology, including obesity and metabolic disorders.

Publications

  • Published 4/1/2025

    Mitchell KS, Serier KN, Vogt DS, Smith BN, Cooper Z. Eating disorder screening measures in post-9/11 veteran men and women. Psychol Assess. 2025 Apr; 37(4):172-179. PMID: 40167541.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 2/1/2025

    Taverna E, Iverson KM, Kumar SA, Vogt D, Mitchell KS. Beyond Physical and Mental Health: The Broader Impacts of Intimate Partner Violence on Psychosocial Well-Being Among Women and Men Veterans. Stress Health. 2025 Feb; 41(1):e3526. PMID: 39760934.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 1/23/2025

    Kumar SA, Vogt D, Miller AN, Mitchell KS, Brock RL, DiLillo D. Posttraumatic resilience and growth: A network analysis of character strengths among sexual assault survivors. Psychol Trauma. 2025 Jan 23. PMID: 39847016.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 1/7/2025

    Kumar SA, Taverna E, Mitchell KS, Smith BN, Vogt D. Purpose in life and posttraumatic stress symptoms among military veterans: A network analysis. Mil Psychol. 2025 Jan 07; 1-13. PMID: 39772860.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 12/12/2024

    Serier KN, Knutson EK, Vogt D, Smith BN, Kehle-Forbes S, Mitchell KS. Examining the factor structure of the nine-item Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder Screen in a national U.S. military veteran sample. Psychol Assess. 2025 Mar; 37(3):123-128. PMID: 39666477.

    Read at: PubMed

Other Positions

  • Researcher
    VA Boston Healthcare System

Education

  • Virginia Commonwealth University, PhD
  • Virginia Commonwealth University, MS
  • Virginia Commonwealth University, BS