PTSD: National Center for PTSD

Rachel Zelkowitz, PhD

Researcher/Investigator

Women's Health Sciences Division

See staff directory for contact information.

Academic Appointment

• Boston University School of Medicine, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry

Education

• Boston University School of Medicine, Teaching Fellowship and VA Boston Healthcare System, Advanced Fellowship in Women's Health, Clinical Psychology, 2022
• Vanderbilt University, PhD, 2019
• Duke University Medical Center, Predoctoral Internship in Clinical Psychology, 2019
• Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, MHS, 2012
• Emory University, BA, 2008

Expertise and Interests

• Self-destructive behaviors (self-directed violence, disordered eating, substance use, risky behaviors)
• Gender differences in comorbidity of PTSD and self-destructive behaviors
• Negative self-evaluation and emotion dysregulation as transdiagnostic processes
• Network analysis and ecological momentary assessment

Membership in Professional Societies

• International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS)
• Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT)
• International Society for the Study of Self-Injury (ISSS)

Awards and Honors

• Military Suicide Research Consortium Research Training Day Travel Award
• Karen Wells Professionalism Award, Duke University Medical Center
• Julius Seeman Award, Department of Psychology & Human Development, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University

Selected Publications

Zelkowitz, R. L., Sienkiewicz, M. E., Vogt, D. S., Smith, B. N., & Mitchell, K. S. (2022). Gender differences in direct and indirect associations of trauma types with disordered eating in a national U.S. veteran sample. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0001353

Zelkowitz, R. L., Jiang, T., Horváth-Puhó, E., Street, A. E., Lash, T. L., Sørensen, H. T., Rosellini, A. J., & Gradus, J. L. (2022). Predictors of nonfatal suicide attempts within 30 days of discharge from psychiatric hospitalization: Sex-specific models developed using population-based registries. Journal of Affective Disorders, 306, 260-268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2022.03.034

Shor, R., Borowski, S., Zelkowitz, R. L., Pineles, S. L., Copeland, L. A., Finley, E. P., Perkins, D. F., & Vogt, D. (2022). The transition to civilian life: Impact of comorbid PTSD, chronic pain, and sleep disturbance on veterans' social functioning and suicidal ideation. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0001271

Zelkowitz, R. L., Mitchell, K. S., Grossman, S. L., Nillni, Y. I., Gradus, J. L., & Galovski, T. E. (2021). Latent Class Analysis of Self-directed Violence and Indirect Self-harm Behaviors: Gender Differences and Associations With Mental Health Symptoms. Medical Care, 59, S51-S57. https://doi.org/10.1097/MLR.0000000000001476

Zelkowitz, R. L., & Cole, D. A. (2019). Self-Criticism as a Transdiagnostic Process in Nonsuicidal Self-Injury and Disordered Eating: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 49(1), 310-327. https://doi.org/10.1111/sltb.12436

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