The ARISE Lab
The ARISE lab investigates the social, cultural, and environmental factors that influence how people feel about their bodies and eat. We see disturbances in body image and eating as disturbingly normative, ranging from nutritional disparities and structural injustice (e.g., food insecurity) to disordered eating and eating disorders. Our work aims to understand how to intervene at the multiple levels of influence to measurably reduce the prevalence and progression of body image and eating-related disturbances.
Learn more about our ongoing projects on our Research page.
Email: PSY.ariselab@msu.edu
Socials: @ariselabmsu (Twitter/X, TikTok, instagram)
ARISE Lab Members
Principal Investigator
Dr. Blair Burnette
Assistant Professor, Clinical Science
I studied psychology at Kenyon College (many, many moons ago) and had the privilege of working with and around several leaders in the body image and eating disorder field, including Dr. Linda Smolak (my faculty advisor), Dr. Sarah Murnen, and Dr. Michael Levine. I received my PhD in Counseling Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University where I worked with Dr. Suzanne Mazzeo. My master's thesis explored how early adolescent girls perceived social media affected their body image. Despite barely knowing what I was doing at the time, it is still my most cited work to date (I peaked early!). For my doctoral dissertation, I conducted an intuitive eating intervention with college students at high eating disorder risk. It was a super fulfilling project that launched my scholarship in intuitive eating. Quantitative findings are here and qualitative are here.
I completed my predoctoral internship at CAMC/WVU Department of Behavioral Medicine in Charleston, WV, where I had the privilege to work with incredible mentors like Jessica Luzier and Chantel Weisenmuller. We collaborated on what is still my proudest work to date (open access link here).
After graduation, I spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Minnesota in the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health working with the Project EAT team.
Now, I am grateful to be an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Michigan State University. My goal is to build and support a lab that makes meaningful contributions to reducing the prevalence and progression of body image and eating-related concerns, and increasing equity and representation in the body image and eating disorder literature. More specifics about my research interests can be found on the Research and Current Projects pages.
Lab Manager
Kellsey Launius, M.S. (she/her)
Kellsey is a 5th year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology PhD program at Eastern Michigan University.
Her research interests include:
- The overlap between disordered eating and anxiety
- Predictors of outcomes in eating disorder treatment, particularly Family-Based Treatment
For fun, Kellsey enjoys reading, spending time outside with her dachshund, baking, and going to craft fairs and thrift shops.
Community Engagement Specialist
Cecelia Tucker, BA (she/they)
Cecelia is the community engagement specialist for ARISE Lab. She is also a graduate student at UNC Chapel Hill pursuing her masters in Social Work. Cecelia is inspired by holistic models of care & work that increases the accessibility of quality interventions and treatment. Research interests are:
- Body functionality & interoception: Re-establishing trust with the body through awareness of bodily signals, & sociocultural factors that impact embodiment
- The role of self-compassion in treatment engagement: How can self-compassion be introduced in single session or brief treatments and how does it impact treatment acceptability at higher levels of care?
- Community Based Participatory research (CBPR) models and peer advocacy: Utilizing CBPR & peer support to increase self-agency, combat stigma, and expand treatment access.
For fun, Cecelia loves to make art, garden, watch movies about vampires, and make smoothies for their pet rabbit.
Graduate Students
Emma Crumby, BS (she/they)
Emma Crumby (Georgia College & State University) is a first year Clinical Science Ph.D. student in the ARISE Lab. Before joining the ARISE lab, Emma worked as a Research Coordinator at the Eating Anxiety Treatment Lab at the University of Louisville. Emma is interested in driving mechanisms of eating disorders/disordered eating in marginalized populations and improving eating disorder treatment for these populations. Their ultimate goal is to widen the field's understanding of how marginalized folks experience their own bodies and use that knowledge to enhance their treatment. In their free time, they enjoy lifting weights, reading a good horror novel, and watching movies.
Dr. Burnette is recruiting a graduate student for admission in 2025-2026. Please see our FAQs about Graduate School Admissions for more information about working with Dr. Burnette and applying to the MSU Clinical Science doctoral program.
Research Assistants
Claire Arkinstall (she/her)
Claire is a 2nd year undergraduate student at MSU studying psychology with minors in health promotion and human behavior and social services. In the future, she hopes to pursue a masters in clinical psychology to become a therapist with a specialty in eating disorders and sports psychology. Her research interests include:
- How social media affects eating habits and pushes eating disorder culture
- Nutrition for young athletes and how to properly fuel for high intensity activities
- The correlation between sports, body image, and eating disorders
For fun, Claire enjoys working out, hanging out with her friends, reading, doing her nails, and going to the beach.
Kennedy Kirsch (she/her)
Kennedy is a 3rd year undergraduate Psychology student at MSU with a minor in human behavior and social services.
Her research interests include:
- Disordered eating
- Binge eating disorder intervention
- Social media's effects on mental and physical health
- Anxiety disorders
For fun, Kennedy likes to thrift, read, hang out with friends, go to the pool, and drink a lot of coffee.
Kayla Tracey (she/her)
Kayla Tracey is a senior studying Psychology with a minor in Cognitive Science at MSU. Kayla hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and become a child/adolescent Clinical Psychologist. Her research interests include:
- Protective and risk factors for eating disorders and anxiety disorders in children/adolescents
- Treatment accessibility and effectiveness for mental illness in children, including PCIT, SPACE, single-session interventions
- How misinformation surrounding mental illness creates stigma and barriers to accessing mental health treatment.
For fun, Kayla enjoys spending time outside walking or having picnics, traveling, spending time with friends and family, visiting art museums, baking, and cooking, especially with sourdough!
Mahi Shah (she/her)
Mahi Shah is a junior majoring in human biology and minoring in bioethics at MSU. She strives to pursue a career in medicine, specifically in psychiatry. Her research interests include:
- The impact of social media on body image and eating disorders
- Cultural differences in perception and treatment of mental illnesses
- Efficacy and efficiency in new medications aiming to treat anxiety and eating disorders as well as depression
For fun, Mahi likes to dance, watch documentaries, travel, and spend time with family and friends.
Frequent Lab Collaborators
Below are some of the folks we in the ARISE lab are privileged to work with and call friends! Team science is the best science!
Samantha Hahn, PhD, MPH, RD - Central Michigan University, College of Medicine
Vivienne Hazzard, PhD, MPH, RD - Michigan State University, Department of Public Health
Project EAT team - Led by Dianne Neumark-Sztainer at the University of Minnesota
Melissa Simone, PhD - University of Colorado - Denver, Department of Psychology
Tracy Tylka, PhD - Ohio State University, Department of Counseling Psychology
Phaedra Longhurst, MsC - Angela Ruskin University
Luke Muentner, PhD, MSW - RTI International, Corrections and Reentry Research Program
Research
Peer-Reviewed Articles
You can find peer-reviewed articles on my ResearchGate and Google Scholar profiles.
Full-texts of many articles are hosted on our OSF page here. If you are interested in accessing an article, please email me us at PSY.ariselab@msu.edu and we will provide them for you!
Books
The Intuitive Eating Treatment Manual: An Essential Guide for Nutrition and Mental Health Professionals is out on September 1st, 2024 by New Harbinger. You can also get a hard or electronic copy on Amazon.
Current Projects
Assessing for iatrogenic harm: A scoping review of pharmacological and surgical weight loss interventions for pediatric populations
In 2022, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued comprehensive guidelines for the evaluation and treatment of children and adolescents with high weight. Specifically, the AAP recommended offering pharmacotherapy to adolescents (ages 12+) with BMI ≥ 95th percentile, and evaluation for metabolic and bariatric surgery for adolescents with BMI ≥ 120% of the 95th percentile. These guidelines garnered considerable attention, particularly within the eating disorder community, due to concerns there is insufficient evidence supporting their safety. In particular, concerns were raised these interventions could potentiate eating disorder risk for vulnerable youth and unintentionally cause iatrogenic harm, such as worsened mental health outcomes. Further, whether children and adolescents can fully consent to these measures, particularly in the context of potential undue coercion, pressure, and developmental stage, is an open question. The purpose of this review is to elucidate what is known about the appropriateness of these interventions for pediatric populations and assess for potential iatrogenic harm.
Evaluating the potential of single-session interventions to address unmet eating disorder treatment need
The treatment gap for eating disorders (EDs) is expansive, with 80% of individuals unable to access any form of care, much less evidence-based interventions or programs. Barriers to care are multilevel and systemic, ranging from gaps in diagnostic and screening measures to the high financial and time burdens of most evidence-based treatment options. Due to the combination of high need and low access, it is crucial to develop resources that are at once highly accessible, low-cost, and capable of utilizing evidence-based methods to target malleable symptoms or behaviors. Single-session interventions (SSIs) are a currently underutilized method of providing evidence-based care to individuals with eating disorders. SSIs function as stand-alone self-guided interventions that are free, accessible, and target primary ED symptoms through psychoeducation, skill-building, and goal setting. This project will develop a set of three open-access SSIs targeting self-compassion, body functionality, and intuitive eating. These interventions will be developed in collaboration with a community advisory board (CAB) of individuals with lived experience to improve the accessibility, acceptability, and overall quality of the interventions. In addition to content and design development, the CAB will support researchers in considering distribution and recruitment methods for an open-access pilot trial.
Investigating correlates of body image and eating behaviors
Intuitive eating is a multidimensional approach to body image, eating, and exercise that emphasizes eating according to hunger and fullness cues, body acceptance, effective coping, mindful and joyful movement, and eating foods that are satisfying and feel good in the body. Abundant research supports intuitive eating as an adaptive style associated with numerous mental and physical health benefits and health-promoting behaviors. However, data on factors that both foster and hinder intuitive eating are still relatively lacking. Therefore, this study is intended to deepen our knowledge of what helps make intuitive both possible and impossible.
TikTok content analysis
We are in the process of initiating a content analysis of eating disorder recovery videos on TikTok. Stay tuned for updates!
If you are interested in collaborating on these studies or other research projects, please email us at psy.ariselab@msu.edu
FAQs for Grad School Admissions
1.) What do you study?
Broadly, I study the social, cultural, and environmental factors that influence how we feel about our bodies and eat. I believe that disturbances in body image and eating are normative, ranging from nutritional disparities and structural injustice (e.g., food insecurity) to disordered eating and eating disorders. My research leverages my training in both psychology and public health to investigate how we can intervene at the multiple levels of influence to make the world a more hospitable and equitable place to eat and have a body. I am not interested in only investigating individual-level interventions, as I believe it will take systemic and structural changes to measurably reduce the prevalence and progression of body image and eating-related disturbances.
Current specific areas of research include:
Intuitive Eating
Although intuitive eating has numerous benefits, it is also inaccessible to many. We study what makes intuitive eating easier and hard so we can learn how to make it more accessibile & feasible.
We also do intuitive eating intervention research. We’re especially interested in evaluating novel ways of disseminating intuitive eating and evaluating its inclusivity and efficacy across identities & backgrounds.
Research on eating disorders has long focused on thin, white, upper-class, young cisgender women, which has led to devastating disparities for underrepresented populations. Because marginalized groups are underrepresented in research, current intervention approaches are not tailored to their unique risk and protective factors. Our research seeks to advance equity and improve representation in eating disorders research.
Equity in eating disorders
Weight bias in healthcare
Weight bias within healthcare has devastating consequences for patients. However, there is also a unique opportunity to intervene at a structural & systemic level of influence: if we can reduce weight bias experienced by patient, can we potentially reduce its consequences (without putting the burden on patients themselves). We aim to evaluate whether weight-inclusive healthcare improves patient outcomes downstream.
For publications and examples of my research, check out my ResearchGate and Google Scholar profiles.
2.) Who is a good fit for your lab?
People interested in equity, representation, & inclusion in eating and body image research, intuitive eating, or weight stigma are good fits for my lab!
If you are interested in “obesity” or weight management/weight loss, I am not a good fit. My lab aligns with fat activists and scholars who view a focus on weight/weight loss as detrimental and oppressive. However, if you are curious to learn more about fat activism and weight-inclusive approaches to health, my lab encourages critical reflection and dialogue. For more information, please check out the work of excellent scholars, including Sabrina Strings, Da’Shaun Harrison, and Ragen Chastain, or check out the ASDAH (Association for Size Diversity and Health) website/resources.
I am pretty uninterested in your stats, including your GPA, GRE scores, number of publications, etc. Although these data can sometimes provide some information, they often say the most about someone’s opportunities and access. I am looking for enthusiasm, curiosity, and determination. Are you excited about research in eating and body image? Are you eager to gain research and clinical experience? Are you passionate about doing work that helps reduce the prevalence and progression of body image and eating-related concerns? Additionally, I look for initiative, consistency, dependability (i.e., you follow through on what you say you will do), communication, integrity, attention to detail, and again, enthusiasm.
Students who have some interest or at least openness to research. You absolutely do not have to aspire to be a tenure-track professor at an R1 institution to fit in my lab. However, a PhD in psychology requires considerable participation in research. Therefore, some willingness and interest in research is important. It’s also important to note there are a lot of ways to do research-you may find that you don’t like survey research very much, but love qualitative work. Or, maybe you find that community-based participatory methods are where it’s at for you. If you work with me, I’ll help you explore your interests to see if there are fulfilling ways to engage in research.
Interest in mentoring. Graduate students in my lab will have the opportunity to mentor undergraduate research assistants. I did this when I was in graduate school and it was not only a joy but provided invaluable experience. Therefore, interest in growing your mentorship skills is a plus!
3.) Any tips for putting together a good application?
- Your personal statement is your best opportunity to introduce yourself. Be **authentic**. When reading application materials, it becomes very clear very quickly when someone is trying to say the ‘right’ things. These applications tend to be pretty boring and give me little insight into the person I might be working with for at least 5 years. Ultimately, it serves both of us for you to be authentic.
- You do not have to have worked in eating disorder/body image research nor have first-authored publications. I recognize that these opportunities are exceedingly limited and inaccessible for many. If you have the opportunity to get involved in research in any capacity, it will serve you well in graduate school. However, graduate school is specifically designed to provide research training, so it just wouldn’t make sense to only admit seasoned researchers.
- If you have engaged in relevant advocacy/volunteering, feel free to highlight that!
- Secure good letters of recommendation. When asking potential letter writers, make sure to verify that they can provide you with a strong letter. Unfortunately, students sometimes miss this step and end up having lukewarm recs. Send them a list of points you’d like them to highlight, especially if you aren’t able to touch on them in your personal statement.
4.) What type of mentorship do you provide?
- I use a developmental, collaborative approach to mentorship. This means my level of involvement and oversight will evolve as your confidence, expertise, and skills grow. Realistically, I’ll be more hands-on during your first years, such as closer editing of papers and potentially more frequent meetings. However, my mentorship style is also collaborative. That means I want to hear from you regarding your needs and feedback.
- I value mutual respect and open, transparent communication. I am aware of the power differentials that exist and will be monitoring them regularly. I aim to create a space where you feel safe to voice any and all concerns, whether they are related to our working relationship or not!
- I expect a high degree of effort, engagement, communication, and work quality from my students. But, it’s my responsibility to make sure you have the resources to meet those expectations. My goal is that you feel invested in the work being done in the lab, like you are a vital part of it, and that your perspective is taken seriously and treated with respect. I believe fostering this type of environment brings out the best in everyone!
- Relatedly, your quality of life and mental health during graduate school are important to me. Graduate school is hard, there is no way around it. But, you shouldn’t have to sacrifice your quality of life and peace of mind for 5-6 years just to get through it. We will work together to help you balance your responsibilities and maintain space for life outside of work.
5.) Do I need to email you before applying?
- No! You’re welcome to email me if you have a question that isn’t answered in this document. However, emailing me is not required or expected and it won’t confer any advantage for your application.
6.) Can i meet with you to discuss my application?
- Although I love to meet with students and trainees, I simply don’t have time to meet with all applicants. To avoid providing any unfair advantage, I don’t meet with *any* applicants prior to formal interviews. Please understand this isn’t personal-it’s just not feasible to meet with everyone! If you have questions that aren’t answered after reading this document, feel free to send me an email at [cbb@msu.edu](mailto:cbb@msu.edu).
7.) Where can I learn more about the MSU Clinical Sciences program and admissions?
Join the Lab
If you are interested in joining the lab as a research assistant, please complete the application here. A member of the research team will be in touch. If you haven’t heard from us in two weeks from your application, email us at PSY.ariselab@msu.edu.
We prioritize individuals who have a strong passion for body image and eating disorder research, treatment, and advocacy, are committed to social justice, dependable, conscientious, and take initiative, can attend weekly lab meetings, and are able to devote at least one academic year to the lab (5-10 hours/week). You don’t have to have research experience, but evidence of your dependability, time management skills, and eagerness to learn will be essential.
Individuals with strong applications will be invited to interview.
Intuitive Eating Treatment Manual:
An Essential Guide for Nutrition and Mental Health Professionals
Blair Burnette, PhD (ARISE PI!)
A comprehensive manual for teaching intuitive eating to patients and clients—for psychotherapists, dieticians, and nutritionists.
Intuitive Eating is a groundbreaking approach to nutrition that recognizes the body’s natural hunger signals. There are numerous benefits associated with eating intuitively, including improved mental health, self-esteem, body image, weight stability, and dietary patterns. Structured around the 10 principles of intuitive eating, this comprehensive professional manual offers psychotherapists, dieticians, and nutritionists session-by-session techniques to effectively teach others how to implement the core tenets of intuitive eating, and promote a healthy and nourishing relationship to food.
The Intuitive Eating Treatment Manual begins with a complete overview of intuitive eating and its supporting evidence base. You’ll be presented with an intervention strategy that includes 10 sessions—each focusing on one of the ten core principles of intuitive eating. The format is flexible in the event that you need to expand or contract the number of sessions. You’ll also find important information on how to easily integrate the therapy when working with clients from diverse backgrounds—either in group or individual sessions.
If you’re interested in incorporating the principles of intuitive eating into your practice, this manual offers everything you need to get started.