Professor Tracey Wade
Distinguished Contribution to Psychological Science Award

Award type: Science 

Tracey Wade is an internationally recognised researcher and clinician with a specialisation in eating disorders and perfectionism.

She has over 300 peer-reviewed publications, 14,608 citations (Scopus), an h-index of 60, and a total of $7.7M in competitive research grant funding. Her research has contributed to making eating disorders a priority mainstream health issue.

Her extensive aetiological research has identified that genetic, personal (e.g., perfectionism), and social factors (e.g., social media) contributing to the development of eating disorders.

She has developed two treatments that build on traditional Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) techniques. CBT for perfectionism (CBT-P) is a self-help guide (now in its 2nd edition) that reduces perfectionism, depression, anxiety, and disordered eating. CBT-T is an effective 10-session intervention for non- specialist use, which is now being used across over 100 services around the world.

Her work has also focused on implementing evidence-based treatment into real-world settings, including models for equipping non-specialist services to treat people with eating disorders. Her work informs national and international guidelines.

She is currently funded by a prestigious NHMRC Investigator Grant to evaluate transdiagnostic approaches to early intervention for youth with disordered eating.