As the spring semester gets underway, we’re introducing our new VHPs (or “very helpful people”) who are joining the Bulik lab. Click here to read Part 1 from earlier in the week and then continue on to learn about two more newcomers.

Annie Mittnacht, originally from Titusville, New Jersey, graduated from Middlebury College in 2007, where she majored in Eastern Religion. She is now in her second year of the MPH-RD program in the Gillings School of Global Public Health, where she is majoring in Nutrition. After graduating this year, Annie hopes to pursue a career as a dietitian working with eating disorder patients. She is excited to join the Bulik lab because she would like to inform her future approach to treatment/counseling with the most up-to-date eating disorder research available and recognizes the importance of dietitians working with researchers to provide effective, evidence-based treatment. In her free time, Annie enjoys cooking, gardening, painting, doing yoga, and going on walks and hikes with her fiancé, who is an avid birder.

Brie Shelly is a Chapel Hill native and graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2012, where she double majored in Exercise and Sport Science and Psychology. She is currently in her first year of the Master’s in Rehabilitation Counseling and Psychology program. Brie hopes that her experience as a VHP will guide her own eating disorder research and help her focus in on specific areas for future study. Brie plans to work towards becoming a Licensed Professional Counselor and/or pursue a PhD in Clinical Health Psychology. She is interested in working with eating disorder patients, as well as ultimately helping fight the obesity crisis in the U.S. Brie is very active and has worked at the on-campus gym for almost four years. She teaches cycling, swims, lifts weights, and just signed up to run the Tobacco Road Marathon in March.

Welcome, Annie and Brie!

By: Susan Kleiman