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Ulrike Schmidt, MD PhD FRCPsych, is Professor of Eating Disorders and Head of the Department of Psychological Medicine at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London (KCL) and a consultant psychiatrist at the Eating Disorders Service at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.

One key focus of Professor Schmidt’s research has been on experimental therapeutics - the development of interventions as probes of disease mechanisms as well as tests of efficacy. This work has included development of brief scalable psychological treatments and preventative interventions for eating disorders, delivered face-to-face or through the internet or mobile phones, and use of novel ‘brain-directed treatments’, such as non-invasive neuromodulation approaches.  She has also developed an outpatient therapy, MANTRA, which is a recommended by NICE as a first line treatment for adults with anorexia nervosa

Professor Schmidt undertook her medical studies at the University of Düsseldorf. She came to the UK supported by the German National Scholarship Foundation, with a fellowship for top students. She trained in psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital. She then spent five years working as a consultant in community psychiatry.

She has been a consultant in the Eating Disorders Service since 1998 and the Professor of Eating Disorders at KCL since 2006. Professor Schmidt was a member of the NICE Eating Disorders Guidelines development group, chair of the Section of Eating Disorders at the Royal College of Psychiatrists and a board member of the Academy for Eating Disorders. 

She is the recipient of a 2005 National Health Service Award for Innovative Service Delivery, a 2009 Academy for Eating Disorders Leadership Award, the 2013 KCL Supervisory Excellence Award and the 2014 Hilde Bruch Award for Outstanding Achievements in Eating Disorders Research and Treatment, and an NHS 70th Women Leadership Award.

She is also a NIHR senior investigator. She has led the development and evaluation of the multi-award winning (BMJ Mental Health Team of the Year; Positive Practice Awards) FREED early intervention programme for eating disorders. Professor Schmidt has published some 450 peer-reviewed papers and 100 other publications on eating disorders, including text books, chapters, patient workbooks, and web-based treatment or training packages