Lauren Forrest, PhD

I study what makes people think about suicide, attempt suicide, and (segue) develop eating disorders. I hope that my research ultimately contributes to fewer people thinking about suicide, fewer people attempting suicide, and getting more people with eating disorders effective help and support. My work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the American Psychological Association, the Military Suicide Research Consortium, and the Academy for Eating Disorders. I’ve been lucky to have amazing academic mentors who (professionally) raised me and helped me grow into the scientist I am today. (Shout out to Doug Kondo, April Smith, and Emily Ansell :)

Who I am as a human, outside of work

• I am a DIY home renovator and interior designer.
• I like my home, rooms, furniture, and decor to have a little bit of weirdness to them. I love finding slightly weird, imperfect, and unexpected things secondhand.
• For example, I once was visiting my sister out of state and found a large, 40-pound rock that had been carved into a bowl for only $40!! 😱 It just barely fit in my suitcase, which of course TSA searched after scanning it because the rock literally took up the entire suitcase and the suitcase was much heavier than what a suitcase of that size should be. I talked to the TSA agent for 5 minutes about what an epic find the rock was and what I was going to do with it (turn it into a sink in a bathroom I’m going to build!). LOL
• I love hiking and just generally being outside.
• I love yoga.
• I’m an extremely picky eater. I made up a song when I was little about how much pickles stink. (I still hate pickles and any other vinegar-y thing.)
• I’m not a very “chill” person, in that I’m almost always doing something. If I’m not working on work stuff, I’m working on a home project.
• I grew up doing competitive tumbling and cheerleading, and coached gymnastics up until grad school. I can still throw an okay backhandspring, an ugly whip, and a very forced aerial.