Rate My Professor Jenny Jordan

Associate Professor Jenny Jordan is a clinical psychologist in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Otago, Christchurch, Faculty of Medicine. She holds an MA with First Class Honours, a Diploma in Clinical Psychology from the University of Canterbury, a PhD from the University of Otago, and Fellowship of the New Zealand College of Clinical Psychologists (FNZCCP). Her career includes roles as a scientific officer and clinical psychologist at the Specialist Mental Health Clinical Research Unit, Canterbury District Health Board. Jordan has extensive experience as an investigator and therapist in randomised clinical trials evaluating psychotherapies for serious mental disorders, including eating disorders, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder related to the Christchurch earthquakes. These trials have assessed cognitive behaviour therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy, schema therapy, metacognitive therapy, and specialist supportive clinical management for anorexia nervosa, which she helped develop.

Her research interests include psychotherapies for mental disorders, mood and anxiety disorders, eating disorders, diagnostic issues and comorbidity, transdiagnostic processes and approaches, cultural responsiveness, predictors of psychotherapy outcomes, mechanisms of change, therapy process factors, and patient perspectives. As Co-lead Investigator of the New Zealand arm of the Eating Disorders Genetics Initiative (EDGI), she contributes to the largest genetic investigation of eating disorders conducted to date. Jordan has authored over 170 publications with more than 5,300 citations. Key publications include 'Mapping the genetic landscape across 14 psychiatric disorders' (Nature, 2026, co-authored), 'Maladaptive exercise in people with a lifetime history of eating disorders: A multicountry observational study' (International Journal of Eating Disorders, 2025), 'Māori experiences of eating disorders: A scoping review of how little we know' (European Eating Disorders Review, 2026), 'Under-diagnosis and under-treatment of post traumatic stress disorder amongst major trauma patients' (Injury, 2026), and 'Assessment of maladaptive exercise history among individuals with eating disorders' (European Eating Disorders Review, 2026). In 2025, she received the Matariki Staff Value Award for sustained outstanding competence in teaching and supervision.