Dr. Beidel received her Ph.D. in 1986 from the University of Pittsburgh. Before joining the faculty at the University of Central Florida where she is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology at the University of Central Florida, she was on the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh, Medical University of South Carolina, University of Maryland- College Park, and Penn State College of Medicine-Hershey Medical Center. Currently, she holds American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) Diplomates in Clinical Psychology and Behavioral Psychology and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society. She is a past Chair of the American Psychological Association's Committee on Accreditation, the 1990 recipient of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy's New Researcher Award, and the 2007 recipient of the Samuel M. Turner Clinical Researcher Award from the American Psychological Association. She is the author of over 200 scientific publications including journal articles, book chapters and books.While at the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Beidel was twice awarded the “Apple for the Teacher Citation” by her students for outstanding classroom teaching. In 1995, she was the recipient of the Distinguished Educator Award from the Association of Medical School Psychologists. At the University of Central Florida, she teaches abnormal psychology at both the undergraduate and graduate level.