SPECIALTY AND TITLE

Psychiatry

Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences,

McMaster University

HOSPITAL AFFILIATIONS

St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton

UNIVERSITY AFFILIATIONS

McMaster University

AREA OF RESEARCH

Our research has most recently focused on developing and testing novel psychotherapeutic interventions and systems of delivery to increase access to treatment for individuals with psychiatric problems (e.g., depression, anxiety) during pregnancy and/or the postpartum period. Our work also examines the putative impact that these interventions have on infant neurodevelopment, particularly emotion regulatory capacity and cognition. The goal of this work is to optimize the benefits of these treatments for both parents and their offspring and more specifically to disrupt the intergenerational transmission of psychopathology.

MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO SCIENCE AND/OR HEALTH CARE DELIVERY

My novel 9-week Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) intervention for postpartum depression (PPD) is used around the world, including adaptations for teen mothers and low-income Black mothers. Its delivery has been successfully task-shifted to public health nurses (it is in use by 1/4^th of Ontario public health units), and to individuals who have recovered from PPD (i.e., peers). Our 1-day CBT-based workshops for PPD are in use in Europe, are being adapted for use in the Middle East and Africa, and Kaiser Permanente (US Healthcare Provider to 14M patients) has asked to integrate it into their system. I also co-authored Canada’s practice guidelines for PPD and developed a free webapp (MomsOverMatter) that has been integrated into public health practice and used by 60,000 individuals.