Raised traveling the world, Cortney has a unique perspective on how culture influences eating, food, and ideals of beauty. The majority of Cortney's research explores eating pathology, addictions, relationships, self-deception, and the practice of psychotherapy from a cross-cultural perspective. The author of more than 45 peer-reviewed journal articles, 1 book, and 7 book chapters, Cortney’s work appears in some of the field's top journals, including the International Journal of Eating Disorders, Appetite, and Obesity. Cortney has won some of the most prestigious awards in her field, including the 2015 Early Career Award in Research from the American Psychological Associations Minority Fellowship Program; the 2011 Theodore H. Blau Early Career Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Clinical Psychology (awarded jointly by the American Psychological Foundation and the American Psychological Association); and, the 2010 Samuel M. Turner Early Career Award for Distinguished Contributions to Diversity in Clinical Psychology.

Although Cortney received tenure from UNLV in 2012, she formally retired from academia in 2014 to pursue a career that would allow her more time with her family and more interaction with the general public. In a recent TEDx talk called Honest Liars: The Psychology of Self-Deception (http://youtu.be/YpEeSa6zBTE), Cortney described her decision to retire from academia and her view that self-deception is our biggest obstacle to life fulfillment.