Dr. Bean is a professor in the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism and co-Director of the Healthy Lifestyle Center, CHoR's comprehensive pediatric obesity treatment and research center. She received her PhD in counseling psychology, with a specialization in health psychology, from VCU. She completed her pre-doctoral internship training at the New Mexico Veterans Affairs Hospital and the Indian Health Services in Albuquerque, NM. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical health psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at VCU. She joined CHoR in 2008. As a health psychologist, Dr. Bean's clinical and research endeavors have focused on developing and implementing empirically supported strategies to facilitate health behavior changes and reduce disease risk among high-risk populations. She serves as a research mentor and clinical supervisor to both undergraduate and graduate psychology students. Dr. Bean has clinical and research expertise in motivational interviewing and is a member of MINT, the international network of motivational interviewing trainers. She has conducted trainings for health care providers in multiple departments, including pharmacy, pediatrics, internal medicine and psychology.
Dr. Bean is licensed by the Virginia Board of Psychology in clinical psychology. She is an associate member of the VCU Massey Cancer Center, a member of the Greater Richmond Coalition for Healthy Children, and a member of the Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics Obesity Task Force. She is an active member of the Society of Behavioral Medicine and The Obesity Society. Dr. Bean is on the Editorial Board of Health Education and Behavior, Eating Behaviors and Health Behavior and Policy Review, and serves as peer-reviewer for many additional journals.
