Weill Cornell Medicine
Presentation Abstract
Perinatal Mental Health: The Knowledge Gap
Our ability to provide mental health services (whether collaborative or traditional) for pregnant and postpartum women faces many barriers in our current systems. Key barriers include our failure to predict who is at risk and our failure to train frontline healthcare providers.
This presentation will outline the state of the science in these two areas. First, I will cover key advances in predictors of risk: biomarkers to predict postpartum depression (covering epigenetic and immune system biomarkers) and advances in data prediction tools (automated chart extraction and natural language processing). Next, I will review national and international efforts to ensure that psychiatrists, obstetricians, primary care doctors, and other frontline providers are trained in reproductive psychiatry, with a focus on a new partnership between the National Curriculum in Reproductive Psychiatry and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. I will also argue for the need to include community providers (such as doulas) in the delivery of evidence-based mental health treatments (a step beyond integrated supportive care).
To conclude, I will summarize crucial knowledge gaps in both areas – how do we advance the science of predictive biomarkers? What kinds of data coordination do we need to apply data prediction tools on a broader scale? What educational policy changes are needed to require training in this area for healthcare professionals? And what research investments do we need to improve the evidence base on lay-delivered mental health treatments for our most vulnerable communities?
About Dr. Osborne
Dr. Lauren M. Osborne graduated from Weill Cornell Medical College and received her training at Columbia University/New York State Psychiatric Institute. She completed both clinical and research fellowships in women's mental health, and is an expert on the diagnosis and treatment of mood and anxiety disorders during pregnancy, postpartum, the premenstrual period, and perimenopause. Dr. Osborne serves as the Vice Chair of Clinical Research in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Weill Cornell Medicine. Her research focuses on the biological mechanisms of perinatal mental illness, with a focus on neurosteroids and the immune system. She runs the PIPPI Lab—Psychoneuroimmunology in Pregnancy and Postpartum—at Weill Cornell Medicine. Dr. Osborne’s clinical work consists of collaborative care for perinatal mental health within obstetrics and gynecology. She is also the Chair of the Education Committee for Marcé of North America; Founder and Chair of the National Curriculum in Reproductive Psychiatry, a free web-based standardized curriculum; and an Editor of the “APA Textbook of Women’s Reproductive Mental Health.” Her work has been supported by the Brain and Behavior Foundation, the Doris Duke Foundation, the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, and the National Institute of Mental Health.
Dr. Osborne did not disclose any conflicts of interest for this workshop.