I received my PhD in clinical and social psychology from Columbia University in 1980. I completed my internship at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center and obtained a postdoctoral fellowship at NY Presbyterian-Westchester Division. Following my fellowship, I was invited to join the faculty there. I served as full time senior psychologist, transitioned to voluntary supervising psychologist on the eating disorders in-patient unit. While there, I did research, supervised all therapists on the unit, and created group therapy manuals for eating disordered in-patients which I modified as length of stay was steadily abbreviated.

After specializing in the treatment of Anorexia Nervosa for many years, I became intrigued when a significant number of patients referred for evaluation and treatment of Anorexia Nervosa actually were primarily suffering from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder or phobias impacting eating behavior. I pursued intensive training in adult and pediatric OCD through the International OCD Foundation, which focused on treatment with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) with Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP). I was trained in Inference-Based CBT (I-CBT) by Frederick Aardema, PhD, the co-developer of this approach.