Professor Tchanturia began her academic career at Tbilisi State University, Georgia in 1977, gaining her BSc in General and Experimental Psychology in 1982 and her doctorate in Experimental Psychology in 1988. She relocated to London, United Kingdom in 1997 and was accredited as a chartered clinical psychologist and later awarded fellowship of the British Psychological Society in 2014
Career and research
Academic career
Professor Tchanturia became an Associate Professor at Tbilisi State University in 1995. After relocating to London in 1997, she became a clinical research fellow at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London in 1998. She was later appointed a Lecturer in Mental Health Studies and Eating Disorders at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience in 2004. Professor Tchanturia’s research primarily concerns the cognitive and socio-emotional aspects of eating disorders. She has adapted a novel treatment for eating disorders, called Cognitive Remediation Therapy, which seeks to address inflexible and overly detail-focused cognitive styles in patients with eating disorders. Her latest research investigates the nature of autistic traits in patients with eating disorders. She has developed a novel clinical pathway for patients with comorbid autism spectrum disorders and eating disorders at the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust National Eating Disorders Service.
Clinical career
Professor Tchanturia worked as a clinical psychologist at Tbilisi City Psychiatric Hospital from 1982-1985. She was then appointed to the role of Consultant Clinical Psychologist for the Outpatient Department of the Institute of Psychiatry in Tbilisi. After relocating to the United Kingdom, Professor Tchanturia worked as a Clinical Research Fellow at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London from 1998-2003. She subsequently continued her work as a Consultant Clinical Psychologist for the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust from and is currently employed in this role.
Other positions held
Professor Tchanturia holds the following positions:
She is an external examiner for dissertations in the UK and for other international universities
Publications
Books
Professor Tchanturia has written several textbooks relating to eating disorders treatment, including: Brief Group Psychotherapy for Eating Disorders, Ed Tchanturia K Routledge and Cognitive Remediation Therapy for Eating and Weight Disorders, Ed Tchanturia K Routledge. She has also written clinical manuals of Cognitive Remediation Therapy for adults and adolescents and a self-help guide for use with carers, emotion skills training, wellbeing workshops, perfectionism groups and other clinical protocols.
Journal articles
Professor Tchanturia is the author of over 200 peer-reviewed journal articles. Her H index in 2020 is 52 and her work has accrued over 8,800 citations.
Honours and awards
In 2018, Professor Tchanturia received the Normann Munn Distinguished Visiting Scholar Award, which sponsored a 6-week period of research at Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia. She was also the recipient of the Service User Award for Best Psychological Service in the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust in 2015 and the recipient of an NHS Innovator Prize in 2007. In 2020, Professor Tchanturia was awarded the Leadership Award in Research by the Academy of Eating Disorders. Professor Tchanturia has received several teaching awards during her time at King’s College London, including Best Contribution to Postgraduate Student Experience in 2012 and 2019, a Teaching and Supervisory Excellence Award in 2014, and an Excellence in Teaching Award in 2009. She is the recipient of research funding from The Royal Society, The Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council, The Health Foundation, The Maudsley Charity, Psychiatry Research Trust, Swiss Anorexia Foundation, and NHS Innovation.
