Nadia Micali

I have a specific interest in adolescent psychopathology, especially focusing on eating disorders. I lead a team of students and researchers.

My current research interests include the aetiology and epidemiology of eating disorders, the transgenerational pattern of transmission of eating disorders, as well as the role of genetic and environmental risk factors for eating disorders.

My PhD focused on pregnancy, perinatal and infant outcomes in women with lifetime eating disorders using data from the ALSPAC cohort.

My current research projects include studying growth, psychological development and eating and feeding habits of children born to mothers with Eating Disorders across several birth cohorts; investigating risk factors for eating disorders behaviours in early and mid-adolescence. Integrated within this is a separate study looking in detail at the relationships between maternal eating disorders behaviours lifetime contributing to adolescent development.

My NIHR Clinician scientist award focuses on trajectories of adolescent eating disorders and eating disorders behaviours.

I have a specific interest in the epidemiology of eating disorders across the lifespan. I collaborate with several research groups in the UK and abroad in relation to the epidemiology of eating disorders.

I co-lead a study focusing on empirical approaches to the classification of eating disorders (with Dr. A Field, Boston, USA) thanks to a collaborative grant from NIMH. I am also leading a study to investigate the effects of maternal eating, nutrition and stress in pregnancy on the developing foetus and infant.

I have several collaborations with research centres outside the UK: Denmark: Copenhagen County Cohort (CCC2000), Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC), the Netherlands: Generation R, USA: Growing Up Today Study (GUTS); the North Finland Birth Cohort (NFBC); and in the UK: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, KCL.