Principal Investigator
Anna Bardone-Cone, PhD, FAED
 |
Anna Bardone-Cone (she/her) went from a math and French double major at Williams College to teaching middle school and high school to graduate school in clinical psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to internship at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in Pittsburgh, PA. Although her path to psychology was not direct, the field of psychology and being a professor have been a great professional home for her in terms of letting her wear the many hats she likes: research, mentoring, teaching, seeing clients (although not for a while now). Her first faculty position was at the University of Missouri- Columbia with a move to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2009 for unique opportunities and to be closer to family. Anna’s research is on psychosocial factors related to eating disorders and has focused on perfectionism, self-concept constructs, social media, peers, and family. She also has interests in defining recovery from eating disorders in a comprehensive way (in particular, assessing for cognitive recovery, not just physical and behavioral recovery) and in the value of having a consensus way of assessing recovery for the purposes of treatment outcome research, and interests in examining disordered eating and body image in racial and ethnic minority groups, considering theories and relationships that have been tested in predominantly White samples as well as theories and relationships that may be unique to racial/ethnic minorities. Anna teaches undergraduate courses in psychopathology, eating disorders and body image, and gender, and a graduate class on multiculturalism in clinical psychology. She is currently a Thorp Faculty Engaged Scholar and excited for the opportunity to develop partnerships with communities to engage in research that will benefit them. She is interested in forging partnerships with communities to engage in research that they would be a part of creating and benefit from and is grateful for her experience as a Thorp Faculty Engaged Scholar for helping her on this path. She has a sustained involvement in diversity-related initiatives with past roles as faculty advisor for the clinical program’s Diversity Training Committee (including inaugurating the Diversifying Clinical Psychology Weekend), co-director of the department’s diversity initiatives, a Working on Women scholar, and co-chair of the departmental Climate and Inclusion committee. |
Graduate Students
Lauren K. Wash, MA
 |
Lauren Wash (she/her) is a fifth-year doctoral student in the UNC Clinical Psychology program from Chicago, IL. Lauren earned a B.S. in Psychology and Gender & Women’s Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an M.A. in Counseling for Mental Health & Wellness from New York University. Lauren also earned a post-graduate certificate in the integrated treatment of eating disorders from the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy’s Center for the Study of Anorexia and Bulimia (CSAB) in New York City. Prior to joining the ABC lab, Lauren worked full-time in clinical research at VA New York Harbor Healthcare System – Manhattan Campus as a research coordinator for the Psychotherapy Research & Development Program. Lauren also worked part-time as a licensed mental health counselor specializing in eating disorders. At UNC, her master’s thesis focused on the mediating role of body shame in the relationship between multidimensional perfectionism and disordered eating symptoms in Black college women. Her comprehensive area paper proposed an integrated etiological model explaining body dissatisfaction among older Black women. Her dissertation will focus on the development and validation of a racialized appearance perfectionism measure for Black women. Lauren hopes to develop a program of research that examines Black women’s and girls’ experiences with eating disorders, body image, perfectionism, colorism, and hair politics. |
Melissa Puopolo, MA, MPS
 |
Melissa Puopolo (she/her) is a fourth-year graduate student in the UNC Clinical Psychology program. She was born in Jacksonville, Florida and currently calls Dallas, TX home. Melissa earned her B.S. in Psychology with a concentration in Life Science and a minor in Chemistry at Virginia Commonwealth University. She also earned a Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in Clinical Psychological Science at the University of Maryland. Prior to joining the ABC lab, Melissa worked as the Clinical Research Coordinator at the Institute of Drug and Alcohol Studies in Richmond, VA as well as a research assistant at the Virginia Institute for Psychiatry and Behavioral genetics where her research focused on substance use disorder. Melissa is interested in examining the psychosocial factors that contribute to eating disorders overall as well as the comorbidity of eating disorders and substance use disorder. |
Adrienne Kvaka, MA
 |
Adrienne Kvaka (she/her) is a third-year doctoral student in the UNC Clinical Psychology program. She is from Cleveland, Ohio and earned a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Spanish at Kenyon College in 2022. Prior to joining the ABC Lab, she completed a two-year full-time research assistantship at Butler Hospital and Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island where she coordinated two randomized controlled trials examining the effectiveness of mind-body interventions for adults with depression. At UNC, Adrienne’s research investigates psychosocial factors related to eating disorder etiology, maintenance, and recovery. She successfully defended her master’s thesis, titled “Body Shame Trajectories, Self-Esteem, Social Anxiety, and Eating Disorder Recovery in Women with an Eating Disorder History,” in May 2026. Adrienne is passionate about investigating eating disorder etiology and intervention from sociocultural and feminist perspectives. Through this research program, Adrienne hopes to promote healthy and empowered ways of living in one’s body. |
Iman McPherson
 |
Iman McPherson (she/her) is a third-year PhD student in the UNC Clinical Psychology program. She was born and raised in Massachusetts and graduated from Tufts University in 2022 with majors in Psychology and Philosophy and a minor in Child Study and Human Development. Prior to joining the ABC Lab, Iman worked with the Eating Disorders Clinical and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, investigating the neurobiological underpinnings of avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) in adults. Iman currently serves as Co-Chair of the Black and Brown Professionals in Eating Disorders Special Interest Group through the Academy for Eating Disorders. She is particularly interested in transdiagnostic factors underlying disordered eating and other maladaptive health behaviors, as well as integrating philosophical perspectives with psychological science to promote human flourishing.
|
Dr. Bardone-Cone and lab members with author Mallary Tenore Tarpley at the book reading of her memoir SLIP: Life in the Middle of Eating Disorder Recovery in September 2025 at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, NC.
Undergraduate Research Assistants
| Audrey Briggs |
Gursimran Kaur |
Charlotte Wilkerson |
| Caleb Deak |
Julia McGowan |
Aida Xue |
| Bri Groves |
Pilar Parker |
Joselyn Yoo |
| Cecilia Ha |
Taylor Stewart |
|
| Caroline Hart |
Sydney Walker |
|
