Speaker Biographies
Christina Borba, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Director, Office of Disparities Research and Workforce Diversity (ODWD)
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Dr. Borba is the director of ODWD at NIMH. She leads the development and implementation of scientific policies and research initiatives aimed at reducing mental health disparities and advancing equity in mental health interventions, services, and outcomes. Her work also focuses on increasing workforce diversity and scientific attention to mental health disparities experienced by women and people living in rural areas. Her career spans more than 20 years and includes experience informing and developing evidence-based interventions to mitigate disparities in mental health among marginalized populations. Her most recent research focused on psychotic disorders and cultural psychiatry in low-resourced settings in the United States and abroad, women’s mental health, and gender differences in care.
Dana Meaney-Delman, M.D.
Chief, Infant Outcomes Monitoring, Research, and Prevention Branch
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Dr. Meaney-Delman is the chief of the Infant Outcomes Monitoring, Research and Prevention Branch in the National Center for Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities at the CDC. She was the co-lead for the Data, Research, and Quality Improvement Subcommittee of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Task Force on Maternal Mental Health. She founded the Emerging Threats to Mothers and Babies initiative which identifies and responds to emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats. Previously, she served as senior medical advisor for preparedness in the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases at CDC, where she worked to prepare the nation against infectious threats, developed clinical guidelines on anthrax, smallpox, Ebola, botulism, plague, and Zika virus. She has authored over 70 peer-reviewed articles primarily focused on infectious diseases. Dr. Meaney-Delman practices general OBGYN as an adjunct assistant professor at Emory University. She holds board certification in Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Samantha Meltzer-Brody, M.D., M.P.H.
Assad Meymandi Distinguished Professor
Chair, Department of Psychiatry
Director, Center for Women’s Mood Disorders
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Dr. Meltzer-Brody is the Assad Meymandi Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. She also directs the UNC Center for Women’s Mood Disorders. She is a passionate advocate for innovation and transformation of mental health care. She has also served in leadership roles in physician and health care worker mental health and wellbeing in the School of Medicine and UNC Health. Dr. Meltzer-Brody is an internationally recognized physician-scientist in perinatal depression. Her research investigates the epidemiologic and biological predictors of perinatal depression and innovative treatment approaches (pharmacologic and psychotherapeutic), which have taken her across the globe including to sub-Saharan Africa. She had led the MOMS GENES study—the largest global genetic study of postpartum depression using app-based tools. She also served as the academic principal investigator for the novel psychopharmacologic clinical trials developing the first U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved medication for postpartum depression, brexanolone, and served as an investigator for the newly approved oral drug, zuranolone, for postpartum depression. She was named to the 2022, Forbes list of 16 Healthcare Innovators You Should Know, the 2021 Forbes The Visionary List: Women Over 50 Shaping The Future Of Science, Technology And Art and the Forbes List of ‘Women over 50 Working to Improve our Collective Mental Health”. She was also ranked in 2021 by Expertscape, as the number one expert in the world for postpartum depression.
Melissa Simon, M.D., M.P.H.
Vice Chair for Research, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Director, Institute for Public Health and Medicine - Center for Health Equity Transformation
George H. Gardner Professor of Clinical Gynecology
Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Preventive Medicine, and Medical Social Sciences
Northwestern University
Dr. Simon is the George H. Gardner Professor of Clinical Gynecology and vice chair for Research in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. Her primary research interests are aimed at promoting health equity and eliminating health disparities among low income, medically underserved women across the lifespan. Integrating health services research with social epidemiologic models, Dr. Simon's research focuses on interventions (such as patient navigation and community health outreach workers) that aim to reduce and eliminate such disparities. Within this context, Dr. Simon prefers to leverage culture and community to achieve these goals and thereby integrates community based participatory research framework into her work. She also has a strong portfolio of workforce development programs including the world's first healthcare pipeline development free massive open online course, "Career 911: Your Future Job in Medicine and Healthcare" on the Coursera platform. She is the founding director of the Center for Health Equity Transformation and the Chicago Cancer Health Equity Collaborative. She is a former member of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. She is a member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) and the Association of American Physicians. She currently is a member of the NAM Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice and the Roundtable for the Promotion of Health Equity. She also serves as an Advisory Committee member to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Research on Women's Health.
Vivian Ota Wang, Ph.D.
Deputy Director, Office of Research on Women’s Health
National Institutes of Health
Dr. Wang is the deputy director of the Office of Research on Women’s Health at NIH. She is a psychologist, geneticist, and genetic counselor. Dr. Wang’s domestic and global experiences in research, education, policy, and ethics span biomedical, psychological, genomic, nanoscale, and data sciences. She currently applies her expertise in racial identity, community engagement, and ethics to scientific leadership and oversight of women’s health research as the NIH’s Office of Research on Women’s Health’s Deputy Director. Previously, she was the inaugural policy, ethics, and COVID lead at the Office of Data Science Strategy where she established the NIH Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) Data Repository, one of the largest NIH COVID-19 databases that accelerated COVD-19 testing in underserved populations. She also envisioned and spearheaded the RADx Tribal Data Repository, the first NIH sovereignty-based research data repository. Prior to public service, she was a genetic counselor at the University of Colorado and then held tenure-track faculty positions at Rutgers University, Arizona State University, and Vanderbilt University where her research focused on racial identity, multicultural competencies, and research participant protection related to research ethics, program development and evaluation, and community engagement. Her clinical expertise is in congenital and acquired disabilities, traumatic brain injury, and bereavement. Her accomplishments are recognized by university, professional, and government awards.
Lyndsay Ammon Avalos, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Research Scientist III
Division of Research
Kaiser Permanente Northern California
Dr. Avalos is a senior research scientist and director of the Postdoctoral Translational Research Fellowship at the Division of Research at Kaiser Permanente Northern California and an associate professor at the Bernard J. Tyson Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine. Her research is primarily focused on informing and developing innovative interventions to improve the mental health and well-being of pregnant individuals, new parents, and their children. More specifically, her research in maternal mental health and substance use includes epidemiologic studies on maternal and child health outcomes as well as disparities in perinatal mental health, addressing prevention, evaluating screening and treatment, conducting randomized controlled trials to test interventions, and identifying barriers and avenues for intervention implementation into healthcare delivery. Her research also includes pharmacoepidemiologic studies of the effects of prenatal depression and its treatment on neonatal and neurodevelopmental outcomes in the offspring. Dr. Avalos has received funding for research and training from NIMH, the National Institutes of Drug Abuse, the National Institutes of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development, and Kaiser Permanente
Nicole Christian Brathwaite, M.D.
CEO and Founder, Well Minds Psychiatry and Consulting
Adult, Child, and Adolescent Psychiatrist
Dr. Christian-Brathwaite is a nationally recognized board-certified adult, child, and adolescent psychiatrist. She is the CEO and Founder of Well Minds Psychiatry and Consulting Company, PLLC. Dr. Christian-Brathwaite has expertise in perinatal and post-partum mental health, trauma informed care, telepsychiatry, mental health in communities of color, school psychiatry, implicit bias, and racism in mental health. She has extensive clinical experience with adults, children, adolescents, and transitional and college-aged youth. She was selected as a member of the inaugural class of the Women’s Wellness Through Equity and Leadership program, sponsored by the American Psychiatric Association and the American Physician’s Foundation. She has given lectures throughout the country on topics such as “Adverse Childhood Experiences in the School Environment,” “Prioritizing Self Care,” and “Post-Partum Depression in Women of Color.” Dr. Christian-Brathwaite continues to endeavor to provide excellent clinical care and teaching, while also committing a significant amount of time to serving the community at large. She is frequently asked to give talks in the community, on the radio, and at conferences about resiliency, stress management, preventive mental healthcare, and mental illness.
Sheehan D. Fisher, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine
Dr. Fisher is an associate professor and perinatal clinical psychologist at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, and associate dean for Diversity and Inclusion at The Graduate School at Northwestern University. His research career focuses on the effects of perinatal and subsequent parental mental health on infant/child health outcomes. His aim is to reconceptualize parental mental health research to integrally involve both birthing and non-birthing parents to differentiate parents’ impact on child mental and developmental health. Dr. Fisher’s research dovetails with his perinatal mental health clinical practice where he utilizes behavioral therapies to support parents’ transition into the perinatal period and beyond. Ultimately, his goal is to optimize the health and effectiveness of the parental team to positively influence the child and family health trajectory starting during pregnancy.
Ai Kubo, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Research Scientist and Epidemiologist
Division of Research
Kaiser Permanente Northern California
Dr. Kubo is a research scientist and epidemiologist in the Division of Research at Kaiser Permanente Northern California. She received her doctorate in cancer epidemiology at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health in 2007 and has been conducting research at the DOR since 2005. Dr. Kubo’s research portfolio reflects her strong interest in life course epidemiology and health disparities. She has extensive experience examining perinatal biological and psychosocial determinants of adolescent health including early puberty and mental health as well as conducting mindfulness-based intervention studies targeting pregnant women. Currently, she is the principal investigator of two NIH funded R01s: “Sex and Race/Ethnicity-specific Multilevel Factors Influencing Pubertal Trajectories: A Population-based Study (NICHD)” and “mHealth Mindfulness Intervention for Pregnant Black and Latina Women at Risk of Postpartum Depression (NIMH).”
Catherine Monk, Ph.D.
Diana Vagelos Professor of Women’s Mental Health
Chief, Division of Women’s Mental Health, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Columbia University
Dr. Monk is the Diana Vagelos professor of women’s mental health and chief of the Division of Women’s Mental Health in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology (Ob/Gyn) and professor of medical psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. She is a Research Scientist VI at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Dr. Monk directs Women’s Mental Health @Ob/Gyn, an integrated service within Ob/Gyn and conducts perinatal mental health research with a two-generation focus. Her research has been continuously funded by NIH since her NIH Career Development award in 2000 as well as by numerous foundations, including the Bezos Family Foundation, the Robin Hood Foundation, March of Dimes, and the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation.
Wanjikũ F.M. Njoroge, M.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry
University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine
Associate Chair of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Medical Director, Young Child Clinic
Faculty, PolicyLab
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Dr. Njoroge is an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, associate chair of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) for the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), faculty member at PolicyLab, and the medical director of the Young Child Clinic at CHOP. She is a practicing infant/preschool psychiatrist. Dr. Njoroge’s research areas of focus have been on health equity, diversity, and inclusion with a focus on early childhood development and parenting practices. Her core areas of focus have been on prevention, promotion, and early intervention. Her recent work has measured the impact of the pandemic on the mental health and wellbeing of peripartum women and their developing children. She is a standing member of the NIMH study section on Psychosocial Development, Risk, and Prevention. She is also a distinguished fellow in the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Mary Shaw-Ridley, Ph.D., M.Ed, M.C.H.E.S.
Chair, Department of Behavioral and Environmental Health
Principal Investigator, Delta Mississippi IMPROVE Center of Excellence
Jackson State University
Dr. Shaw-Ridley currently serves as department chair and professor in the Department of Behavioral & Environmental Health in the College of Health Sciences at Jackson State University, a historically Black college/university (HBCU). She is the lead program investigator for the JSU-Mississippi Delta Center of Excellence in Maternal Health, funded by the NIH/NICHD IMPROVE Centers of Excellence initiative. She has previously held academic appointments in the Department of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work at Florida International University, Miami; Texas A&M University, College Station; Indiana University, Bloomington; and Texas Woman’s University, Denton. For several years, Dr. Shaw served as the deputy director of the Social & Health Research Center in San Antonio, Texas, under the direction of Roberto Trevino, M.D., an internist focused on early interventions to reduce childhood obesity among Hispanic and Black children.
Nima Sheth M.D., M.P.H.
Associate Administrator for Women’s Services
Chair, Advisory Committee for Women’s Services
Senior Medical Advisor
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
Dr. Sheth is a psychiatrist and the senior medical advisor at SAMHSA’s Center for Mental Health Services, the associate administrator for Women’s Services, and chair of the Advisory Committee for Women’s Services. Dr. Sheth is also the SAMHSA point of contact on the new maternal mental health task force. In addition to leading women’s mental health issues at the agency, Dr. Sheth also specializes in refugee and migrant mental health, implementation science, DEIA, and the behavioral health workforce and leads the center’s technical assistance efforts. Dr. Sheth also specializes in trauma, both nationally and internationally, serving as psychiatric consultant for various community clinics as well as led various trauma initiatives across organizations. She has served as a psychiatric consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO) and worked in several international projects, advising on increasing mental health capacity, improving the quality of mental health services, strengthening referral networks, and coordinating collaborative and integrative care.
Kara Zivin, Ph.D., M.S., M.A., M.F.A.
Marica A. Valenstein Collegiate Professor of Psychiatry
Professor, Health Management and Policy
Research Career Scientist, Center for Clinical Management
University of Michigan
Dr. Zivin is the Marcia A Valenstein, M.D., collegiate professor of psychiatry, professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Health Management and Policy at the University of Michigan, research career scientist at the VA Ann Arbor Center for Clinical Management Research, and senior health researcher at Mathematica. Dr. Zivin is a health services and policy researcher who uses social science and public health tools to improve health and functional outcomes for vulnerable populations with mental health and substance use disorders (behavioral health conditions), including pregnant and postpartum women, Veterans, and older adults. She conducts large mixed methods research studies and evaluations assessing the intended and unintended consequences of health policies and health system interventions. Dr. Zivin aims to increase public awareness about and influence policy addressing behavioral health conditions by combining research expertise (data) and personal narrative (story). She completed her doctorate and Master of Science degree at Harvard University, her Master of Arts and bachelor’s degree at Johns Hopkins University, and her Master of Fine Arts degree at Vermont College of Fine Arts.