Women’s Mental Health

A growing body of scientific evidence indicates that when pregnant people experience stress, anxiety, and depression, it affects them as well as their offspring in utero. The Division of Women's Mental Health conducts research that contributes to our understanding of a "third pathway" for the familial inheritance of risk for psychiatric illness.  This pathway extends beyond shared genes and the quality of parental care by examining how prenatal distress influences fetal and infant brain-behavior development. 

This work is led through Columbia's Center for the Transition to Parenthood, which brings together interdisciplinary research, clinical care, education, and community engagement to improve the mental health and well-being of parents and families. Within the Center, the Women's Mental Health @Ob/Gyn clinical service is integrated into Columbia's Obstetrics & Gynecology practices, providing specialized mental health care for women across the life course. 

The Center’s Perinatal Pathways Lab at Columbia conducts research studies with pregnant people and their babies to support the health and well-being of parents and children. Ongoing projects include studies on fetal assessment, newborn neuro-imaging, genetics, epigenetics, psychoneuroimmunology, mother-child interaction, and supportive interventions to (1) characterize maternal experiences and the effects on children's development and (2) promote maternal psychobiological health for the mother-child dyad. 

Faculty Active in this Area

• Catherine Monk, PhD
• Elizabeth Werner, PhD
• Jennifer Hammond, MD

Contact Us

Nadia Ansari MBBS, MSc
Clinical Research Coordinator III
914-419-8804
na2678@cumc.columbia.edu