Lisa Dinkler

Lisa Dinkler

Assistant Professor | Docent
Visiting address: Nobels Väg 12A, 17165 SOLNA
Postal address: C8 Medicinsk epidemiologi och biostatistik, C8 MEB II Hägg Dinkler, 171 77 Stockholm
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About me

  • I am an assistant professor in psychiatric epidemiology and research team leader at the Centre for Eating Disorders Innovation (CEDI). My research program focuses on the causes, correlates, and course of eating disorders, with a particular emphasis on avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID).

    My research covers epidemiology, etiology, nosology, and diagnostics, using diverse epidemiological, family-based, and genomic approaches. This work has already informed clinical practice by improving ARFID assessment and early detection. Since joining MEB in 2021, I have built several large-scale, high-value datasets on eating and co-occurring psychiatric disorders, combining survey, register, and genomic data. I am regularly invited to speak in academic and clinical contexts in Sweden and abroad.

Teaching

  • I provide:

    • First- and second-cycle university teaching on epidemiology, genetic epidemiology (twin studies, molecular genetics, behavior genetics), scientific research methodology, developmental psychology, eating disorders, and neurodevelopmental disorders
    • Supervision of MSc-level degree projects in the psychology and medical programs
    • Supervision of PhD students (main and co-), research assistants, and summer fellows
    • Clinician teaching nationally and internationally on eating disorders and neurodevelopmental disorders

    Universities tought at:

    • NOVA Medical School, Lisbon, Portugal
    • Åbo Akademi, Finland
    • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
    • Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
    • Uppsala University, Sweden
    • University of Gothenburg, Sweden
    • Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany

    Education & training for clinical providers internationally:

    • Folkhälsan Research Center, Finland (Dec 2025)
    • Haukeland University Hospital, Norway
    • Rådgivning om spiseforstyrrelser (ROS), Norway
    • Oslo University Hospital, Norway
    • Royal College of Psychiatrists, UK

    Teaching in KI programs:

    • Medicinsk vetenskaplig teori och metod, Läkarprogrammet
    • Applied Epidemiology 2 – Determinants of health, MSc Public Health Sciences
    • Non-communicable diseases, MSc Global Health

Articles

All other publications

Grants

  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2026 - 31 December 2029
    Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is an eating disorder characterized by severe food restriction unrelated to weight or shape concerns. Affecting 1–2% of the population, it typically emerges in early childhood, is often chronic, and leads to poor health and high healthcare costs. Despite its impact, ARFID remains underdiagnosed and undertreated owing to its heterogeneity, unclear diagnostic boundaries, and lack of structured care pathways. This project aims to improve ARFID’s conceptualization and identification to enable timely, targeted interventions and prevent chronicity.I will leverage unparalleled genomic, survey, and register data from ~10,000 individuals with and ~32,000 without ARFID across six countries. Using epidemiological and novel, genetically informed classification methods, I will (1) identify risk factors and develop a risk prediction index to improve detection and distinguish ARFID from transient childhood eating difficulties, (2) deconstruct ARFID heterogeneity by identifying clinically meaningful subtypes and refining its diagnostic boundaries, and (3) translate findings into a structured clinical decision tool to support clinicians in diagnosis and patient triage.By refining ARFID classification, enhancing clinical decision-making, and informing targeted interventions, this work will improve access to care and patient outcomes. A key strength is the extensive national and global collaboration supporting this effort.
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 December 2025 - 31 December 2029
    This project targets tertiary prevention in psychiatry: identifying, early in the course of care, individuals most likely to develop severe, persistent illness and tailoring care accordingly. We focus on major depressive disorder (MDD), anorexia nervosa (AN), and bulimia nervosa (BN)—disorders with high female predominance and major contributions to disability among Swedish women. Using Sweden’s exceptional national health registers, we will construct large, richly phenotyped cohorts spanning four decades and apply modern machine learning to detect reproducible, data-driven patterns of long-term outcomes (Aim 1), identify early predictors of poor trajectories including clinical, social, developmental, and genomic factors (Aim 2), and use causal inference to determine which treatments are associated with better outcomes in those at highest risk (Aim 3). Analyses will emphasize replication, generalizability, and clinical relevance, with a focus on sex differences. Preliminary results demonstrate feasibility and identify clinically actionable subgroups, including those at elevated risk for suicide or diagnostic crossover. Successful completion will yield robust, generalizable predictive models to guide personalized, proactive psychiatric care and inform scalable tertiary prevention strategies. Findings will be directly relevant to Swedish healthcare and may serve as a model internationally.
  • Towards better detection, structured care pathways, and targeted interventions for ARFID
    Jane and Dan Olssons Foundations
    9 June 2025 - 28 February 2027
  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    10 December 2024 - 30 November 2026
    Between 2014 and 2024, a multidisciplinary team of investigators at the Centre for Eating Disorders Innovation (CEDI) at Karolinska Institutet collected extensive clinical and self-report data and biological samples for genomic and other -omic studies from over 24,000 individuals with eating disorders (anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, atypical anorexia nervosa, and avoidant restrictive food intake disorder) and appropriately matched controls. CEDI studies were funded by Swedish (e.g., Swedish Research Council, FORTE, Hjärnfonden, ALF)
    Danish (Lundbeckfonden)
    American (National Institute of Mental Health)
    industry (Shire/Takeda)
    and philanthropic sources (e.g., Klarman Family Foundation, Actum Foundation)—an unprecedented investment in eating disorders science.CEDI data and samples represent a global resource that is poised to answer future questions about the biology, psychology, and environmental factors that influence risk, maintenance, and recovery from eating disorders and co-occurring conditions such as depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Moreover, our discovery of a metabolic genetic component to anorexia nervosa lends our data and samples to investigations of conditions of global public health relevance such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. No eating disorders collection in the world rivals the depth and completeness of our resource. To ensure its longevity, utility, and accessibility in accord with FAIR principles, we propose the development of CEDIX—a comprehensive, harmonized, searchable database comprising data and metadata from all CEDI studies linked with a searchable and accessible biobank of DNA, saliva, microbiome, plasma, and other study-specific biological samples housed in the KI Biobank. We will develop and systematize a self-supporting scheme for requesting data and sample access
    for verifying ethical approval and GDPR compliance
    and a mechanism for growing CEDIX by requiring deposit of created variables and novel findings back into the database. FORTE support would provide the personnel and infrastructure to refine, thoroughly test, and publicize availability of the resource. CEDIX and its biorepository will be an invaluable resource for current researchers as well as future global investigators who develop novel hypotheses and apply emerging methodology to address etiology, treatment, recovery, and relapse of these life-impairing and too frequently fatal conditions.
  • Decoding ARFID: Single disorder entity or spectrum of related conditions?
    Jeansson Foundations
    20 October 2024 - 31 October 2027
  • ARFID in children with neurodevelopmental conditions: Physical and mental health, quality of life and impact on family
    Stiftelsen Sunnerdahls Handikappfond
    27 September 2024 - 31 December 2025
  • National Institute of Mental Health
    6 May 2024 - 28 February 2029
    We propose the Eating Disorders Genetics Initiative 2 (EDGI2), a new collaborative R01 in response to PAR-23-050 Clinical Studies of Mental Illness. Its predecessors, EDGI1 (R01 MH120170) and ARFID-GEN (R56 MH129437), were highly successful. We unite the three global EDGI1 sites to advance genomic discovery across major eating disorders (EDs) and identify biologically, clinically, and therapeutically actionable insights. Inclusion of foreign sites is essential to achieve the large sample sizes required for genetic discovery
    these discoveries will improve understanding and treatment of EDs in the U.S. Aim 1: EDGI2 will increase sample size, geographic origins, and ED phenotypes. Using our harmonized online assessment battery, we will phenotype and bio-sample 20,000 new participants with anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, and controls, over-sampling severe and enduring AN, whose DNA may be enriched for causative alleles. Aim 2: We will explicate ED heterogeneity and biology by conducting standard genomic analyses (GWAS of diagnoses, trans-diagnostic behaviors, and continuous traits, PRS, and rare variant CNV)
    identifying clinically meaningful subgroups
    and evaluating that AN is a metabo-psychiatric disorder using LDSC, PRSet, pheWAS, and Mendelian randomization to clarify causal direction. Aim 3: We will assess genetic and environmental risk and resilience factors to inform prediction by phenotypically characterizing cases and controls with high and low PRS for EDs and then by genotypically characterizing those with severe phenotypes. We will identify genetic or molecular patterns across cases and controls and phenotypically characterize identified subtypes. Aim 4: To determine where in the body EDs “live”, we will identify brain cell types and anatomical regions implicated by genomic studies of EDs
    predict genetically regulated gene expression (GREx) in brain, gut, adipose, and other ED-relevant tissues
    use snRNAseq atlases to sharpen preliminary GTEx and TWAS analyses to identify brain cell types strongly implicated by the genomics of each ED
    expand to relevant non-brain cell types (e.g., adipose, muscle, liver, salivary)
    and use dynamic GREx to model gene expression in ED-relevant contexts (e.g., sex, BMI, stress), enabling precise and personalized modelling of gene expression. Aim 5: EDGI2 will culminate in a Translational Summit uniting forward-thinking stakeholders from multiple sectors to develop a translational roadmap for evidence-based ED prevention and treatment. EDGI2 will yield critical knowledge about genetic and environmental risk for EDs, reveal mechanisms that potentiate or protect against genetic risk, and transition ED genetics from discovery to clinical translation.
  • Pre- and perinatal risk factors for ARFID in Swedish twin and register data
    Fredrik och Ingrid Thurings Stiftelse
    1 January 2024 - 31 December 2025
  • ARFID in adolescence: genetic etiology and relation to other eating disorders
    Swedish Brain Foundation
    1 July 2023 - 31 December 2025
  • Creating clarity from chaos: A multi-method approach to elucidating the etiology of ARFID
    Swedish Society for Medical Research
    1 July 2023 - 30 June 2026
  • Fonden för Psykisk Hälsa
    1 May 2023 - 30 April 2024
  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    1 November 2022 - 30 September 2027
    Research problem and specific questions. Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder is a serious, taxing, and potentially life-threatening condition that affects 1-5% of the population. First recognized in 2013, we know little about causes, course, maintenance factors, and outcome
    however, nutritional, medical, and psychosocial consequences are severe. We propose establishing a re-contactable, longitudinal cohort (ARFID InitiativE Sweden: ARIES) to study genetic and environmental contributors to ARFID through a developmental lens. ARIES will include rich phenotyping, DNA samples, and stool samples in a national data- and biorepository linkable to Swedish population health and quality registers to answer fundamental questions about this pernicious, life-impairing, and understudied condition. Data and method. We will first form a community-based Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) to guide our assessment domains and then recruit 500 children ages 4-9 with ARFID and 500 age and gender matched controls
    collect parental report via online questionnaires on development, feeding history, food preferences, behavior, mood, feeding-related adverse events, and other domains suggested by the PAC
    and create a biobank of saliva (for DNA) and stool (for intestinal microbiota and microbiome). Plan for project realisation. We will launch a national recruitment campaign using our country-wide collaborations with eating disorders clinicians and pediatricians and our social media channels to reach parents of children with ARFID. After an online eligibility screen, parents will complete questionnaires
    submit saliva samples for their children
    and provide a stool sample. Families will enroll in ARIES, agreeing to regular follow-ups. In addition to baseline research aims, ARIES will enable identification of predictors of transient versus enduring illness course, impact of puberty on ARFID symptoms, and impact of ARFID on educational achievement. Linking ARIES with population registers will allow research questions about ARFID comorbidity and healthcare utilization. Relevance. No evidence-based treatment for ARFID and no national guidelines exist. Parents desperately seek guidance on managing ARFID and fear for their child’s long-term well-being. ARIES will be the foundation for understanding ARFID, identifying factors related to onset, maintenance, and outcome, and be a national and international resource for essential research.

Employments

  • Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, 2023-2029
  • Research and Training Associate, Stockholm Center for Eating Disorders, Stockholm Health Care Services, 2025-2025
  • Research and Training Associate, Adult Psychiatry Helsingborg, Region Skåne, 2021-2025
  • Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, 2021-2023

Degrees and Education

  • Docent, Karolinska Institutet, 2026
  • PhD, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, University of Gothenburg, 2020
  • Master of Science in Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt, 2014
  • Bachelor of Science in Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, 2012

Leadership and responsibility assignments

  • Research team leader, Centre for Eating Disorders Innovation (CEDI), Karolinska Institutet, 2025-
  • Co-chair ARFID Sub-working group, Eating Disorders Workgroup, Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, 2024-
  • Invited scientific expert for developing the national guidelines for eating disorder treatment, National Board of Health and Welfare, 2023-2023

Distinction and awards

  • Two of the top 10 Papers at the International Conference on Eating Disorders (ICED), 2025
  • Elected Member of the Eating Disorders Research Society (EDRS), 2024
  • Presenter in Top Newcomers Session at XXIXth Annual Meeting of the Eating Disorders Research Society (EDRS), 2023

Supervision

  • Supervision to doctoral degree

    • Liv Hog
    • Helena Johansson

Visiting research fellowships

  • Visiting Researcher, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2023-2023
  • Visiting Researcher, Kochi Medical School, 2018-2021

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