Leila Azarbad

Dr. Leila Azarbad is a Professor of Psychology at North Central College and a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in health psychology/behavioral medicine. Her clinical areas of focus are psychological assessment and treatment of mood and anxiety disorders, eating disorders, and obesity. Her research interests focus broadly on eating behaviors, eating disorders, and body image, and she runs an active undergraduate lab that investigates strategies to reduce food cravings. Dr. Azarbad is a faculty mentor for the NCC women's basketball team (go Cards)! She is actively involved in the City of Naperville's efforts to teach high school students how to intervene in a suicide crisis, leading the development and facilitation of suicide bystander intervention training programs for youth in Naperville. She has taught at the graduate, post-graduate, and medical school level, but her true passion is teaching undergraduates. She was the recipient of the Clarence F. Dissinger Award for Distinguished Teaching by a junior faculty member in 2013 and a Ruge Fellow Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2018. 

Selected Scholarship

• Rivera, N., Azarbad, L., & Peter-Hagene, L. (2022, April). Assessing department climate and supporting inclusive practices. Roundtable discussion facilitated at the 2022 annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association.

• Azarbad, L., & Keeney, J.  (2018, March).  Comparing the effectiveness of food induction craving techniques: Are GIFs best?  Poster presentation given at the 2018 annual meeting of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, New Orleans, LA.

• Azarbad, L., & Keeney, J.  (2017, March).  Severity of depressive symptoms affects weight loss goals, eating pathology, and dieting behaviors in college women.  Poster presentation given at the 2017 annual meeting of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, San Diego, CA.

• Keeney, J., & Azarbad, L. (2017). Examining binge eating symptoms in male and female undergraduate athletes and non-athletes. Performance Excellence Movement, Winter edition, 12-14.

Courses Taught

PSYC 282: Stress and Coping

PSYC 293: Careers in Psychology & Neuroscience

PSYC 324: Adult Psychopathology

PSYC 350: Clinical Psychology

PSYC 360: Psychological Assessment

PSYC 385: Health Psychology

PSYC 490: Science of Love and Lust