Dr. Dara Bellace received her BA with High Honors in Psychology from Colgate University, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, in 1997. She gained specialized clinical research experience working as a project coordinator for Drs. Timothy Walsh and Michael Devlin on multiple NIH-funded trials within the Eating Disorders Clinic at the New York State Psychiatric Institute / Columbia University Medical Center. In 2005, Dr. Bellace earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Drexel University, where she completed her dissertation with Dr. Thomas Wadden at the University of Pennsylvania’s Weight and Eating Disorders Program. Dr. Bellace then completed a full-time clinical internship at Long Island Jewish Medical Center / Hillside Hospital, followed by a post-doctoral fellowship in the Eating Disorders Program at the Westchester Division of New York-Presbyterian Hospital / Weill Cornell Medical College. In 2006, she was appointed to the full-time faculty at Weill Cornell, where she continued her clinical, research and teaching work at both the Westchester and Manhattan campuses of New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

Dr. Bellace is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in the evaluation and treatment of eating disorders, obesity, and associated issues including depression, anxiety, relationship issues and stress management. She has extensive clinical and research experience in the assessment and treatment of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder and obesity, and has worked in multiple inpatient, outpatient and clinical research settings including the Columbia Eating Disorders Program, the University of Pennsylvania’s Weight and Eating Disorders Program, and the Center for Weight Management at Long Island Jewish Medical Center.

After many years of practice in Manhattan and Westchester, Dr. Bellace maintains a private practice in Princeton, NJ. She offers individual cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and supportive psychotherapy to her patients. Dr. Bellace treats female and male preadolescents, adolescents and adults. She is also one of only a few certified Maudsley family therapists in the country, and offers Maudsley Family Therapy (also known as Family Based Treatment, or FBT) as a more intensive form of outpatient treatment to adolescents struggling with anorexia nervosa and their families.

Her involvement with a variety of NIH-funded clinical research endeavors includes the prediction of attrition and weight loss in obesity treatment, investigating the genetics of anorexia nervosa, and the implementation of Maudsley Family Therapy for adolescents with anorexia. Dr. Bellace’s clinical research work has resulted in numerous publications in the areas of eating disorders and obesity. For more complete descriptions of Dr. Bellace’s clinical and research work, please feel free to download a copy of her CV here.

Dr. Bellace offers seminars and workshops on eating disorders in schools, academic research settings, and in the community.

Dr. Bellace is available for diagnostic evaluations, individual psychotherapy, and family therapy in her Princeton office by appointment only