Sarah Fischer

Professor

personality traits and psychosocial factors influencing the co-morbidity and maintenance of addictive behavior patterns

***Dr. Fischer is NOT hiring for a paid data analysis position. This advertisement is false and is likely a phishing email or text.***

Dr. Sarah Fischer received her Ph. D. in clinical psychology from the University of Kentucky in 2006. She completed her pre-doctoral internship and postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Chicago. From 2007 to 2012, Dr. Fischer was an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Georgia. She moved to George Mason University in Fall 2012. Her program of research focuses on how trait impulsivity influences pathology such as binge eating, bulimia nervosa, and subtance abuse, as well as on how this trait influences loss of control over behavior in specific environmental contexts. Currently, Dr. Fischer and her graduate students are completing studies examining implementation of a transdiagnostic eating disorder treatment protocol in community mental health settings, as well as using ecological momentary assessment to study temporal relationships between mood, impulse control, motives, and outcomes of interest. Dr. Fischer collaborates with several members of the psychology department, such as Dr. James Thompson, Dr. Tara Chaplin, and Dr. Christy Esposito-Smythers on studies which utilize neuroimaging and treatment outcome research.

Dr. Fischer is not accepting a new PhD student for the Fall 2026 application cycle.

Dissertations Supervised

Jillian Nelson, Examining the Role of Interoception in Disordered Eating and Posttraumatic Stress (2024)

Naomi Pak, Cultural Adaptation of a Prevention Program for Korean American Parents of Adolescents (2022)

Emily Alexoudis, The Relationship of Personality Traits and Non-Suicidal Self Injury to Aggression and Alcohol Use (2021)

Paige Trojanowski, Adapting a Cognitive Dissonance-based Eating Disorders Prevention Program for Teen Girls With Type 1 Diabetes (2021)

Joseph Wonderlich, Anger and Pavlovian Bias: Integrating Laboratory Task Performance and Ecological Momentary Assessment (2020)

Catherine Byrne, The Integration of Exposure Sessions into Family-based Treatment for Adolescent Anorexia: A Treatment Development Study (2020)

Lauren Breithaupt , Towards a Theoretical Framework for Dissonance Induced Attitude Change in Prevention Interventions: Evidence from Behavioral Interventions, Ecological Momentary Assessment, and Neuroimaging (2018)