Christopher Fairburn is a world-renowned psychiatrist and pre-eminent authority on eating disorders whose pioneering work has transformed psychological treatment approaches globally. He serves as Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford, maintaining a distinguished research presence that spans over four decades. Educated at Malvern College, he completed his medical training at the University of Oxford and psychiatric specialization at the University of Edinburgh, establishing his research career in 1981 with Medical Research Council funding before transitioning to Wellcome Trust support from 1984 until 2017. Fairburn founded the Centre for Research on Eating Disorders at Oxford (CREDO) in 1986 and demonstrated significant leadership as a Governor of the Wellcome Trust from 2007 to 2011 and as a founder trustee of MQ: Transforming Mental Health from 2011 to 2016.
Fairburn's groundbreaking research program has fundamentally reshaped clinical practice through the development of three evidence-based psychological treatments that have achieved international adoption across healthcare systems. His cognitive behavioral treatment for bulimia nervosa became the first psychological intervention endorsed by England's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, establishing a new standard of care that demonstrated remarkable efficacy. He pioneered guided self-help approaches for recurrent binge eating and created Enhanced Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT-E), a transdiagnostic treatment framework addressing core psychopathology across eating disorders that has been implemented worldwide. With over 300 scholarly publications and more than 100,000 citations, his work on transdiagnostic conceptualization and reliable measurement of eating disorder features has provided the foundation for clinical practice and research internationally.
Beyond his direct research contributions, Fairburn has dedicated significant effort to global dissemination of evidence-based treatments through innovative strategies and digital technology applications that overcome traditional barriers to mental healthcare access. He serves as Chair of both the Advisory Board and Science Council for Harvard's EMPOWER initiative, which aims to make effective psychological treatments available to all who might benefit regardless of location or circumstances. Recognized with an OBE in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to psychological treatments and the treatment of eating disorders, Fairburn continues to influence the field through expanding evidence-based approaches to anxiety and depression. His current research focuses on leveraging digital platforms to scale psychological treatments globally while mentoring the next generation of clinical researchers who carry forward his legacy of rigorous, impactful treatment development.
