Kathy F. Yates, PhD

I work in NYU School of Medicine’s BODyLab—the Brain, Obesity, and Diabetes Laboratory—which runs an obesity research program. I am also a research scientist at the Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research.

From 1993 until 2009 my clinical research involved exploring predictors of violence in inpatients with both psychiatric illness and a history of criminal behavior. This included assessing the efficacy of the Service for the Treatment and Abatement of Interpersonal Risk, or STAIR, program, an inpatient treatment program designed to reduce criminal recidivism.

In 2009 my clinical research focus shifted to evaluating the impact of excess weight and weight-related medical illness on cognition and the brain. My positions at the BODyLab include senior neuropsychologist and deputy director of the Banishing Obesity and Diabetes in Youth (BODY) Project.

My responsibilities include the following:

• I serve as a co-investigator on funded clinical research.
• I assist in developing and writing future research grants.
• I author and co-author manuscripts for peer reviewed publications.
• I oversee and coordinate clinical and neuropsychological data collection in funded research.
• I coordinate and administer the research externship training program.
• I provide neuropsychological consultation and supervise research assistant staff.