Cheri Levinson, PhD

Cheri Levinson, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and the founder of Sylvia Precision Health. She is a tenured Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Louisville and a Research Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. She founded and directs the Eating Anxiety Treatment (EAT) Lab and founded the Louisville Center for Eating Disorders, Kentucky's only intensive outpatient and partial hospitalization program for eating disorders. She also chairs the Kentucky Eating Disorder Council.

Her research asks why standard eating disorder treatments work for some people and not for others, and what can be done about it. She developed a personalized approach that combines symptom networks, real-time mobile assessment, wearable sensors, and clinical expertise to identify what maintains each person's eating disorder and to target treatment accordingly. That work is the scientific foundation of Sylvia. She has published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers, and her research has been supported by more than $20 million in funding, including multiple NIH grants and clinical trials and an NIH Director's New Innovator Award.

Dr. Levinson earned her PhD in clinical science from Washington University in St. Louis, completed her clinical internship at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, and returned to Washington University School of Medicine for a postdoctoral research fellowship in psychiatry. Her honors include the Association for Psychological Science Rising Star Award, the American Psychological Association Theodore Blau Award, and the Academy for Eating Disorders Outstanding Scientific Contribution Award. Her books for patients and clinicians include The Personalized Recovery Workbook for Eating Disorders, co-authored with Dr. Irina Vanzhula. As Chief Executive Officer of Sylvia Precision Health, she leads the company's work to make personalized eating disorder care available to everyone who needs it.