Samantha Meltzer-Brody, MD, MPH was awarded the inaugural MONA Medal from Katherine Wisner, MD for her contributions to the field of maternal mental health. Samantha is currently the president of MONA and was recently named Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina / Chapel Hill, where she also serves as Director of the Center for Women’s Mood Disorders. Samantha is widely-considered a thought leader as well as expert researcher and clinician who is helping to change the landscape in maternal mental health.  

Lauren Osborne, MD was awarded the Katherine Wisner Early Career Investigator Award. Lauren is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University where she is the Assistant Director of the Women’s Mood Disorders Center and conducts research on the biological pathways that contribute to mental illness at times of reproductive life cycle transition, working particularly on the role of the immune system. Lauren has been instrumental in creating the National Curriculum in Reproductive Psychiatry.

2020Mom -- in partnership with MONA and the Zoma Foundation -- presented the 2019 Maternal Mental Health Innovation Awards to impactful programs that provide leadership in the field of maternal mental health. Award winners are:

INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS IN CARE

Northwestern Medicine: A Collaborative Care Model for Perinatal Depression Support Service (COMPASS)

and

Virginia Commonwealth University's Virginia MOMS Program

INNOVATIVE COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS

Appalachian Perinatal Mental Health Alliance -- An MMH Community Coalition

INNOVATION IN POLICY AND ADVOCACY

Maternal Mental Health NOW -- California's Comprehensive MMH Bill Package

Learn more HERE

MomGenes Fight PPD is a new website and app (replacing the PPDAct website and app) focusing on analyzing DNA from women who have postpartum depression to find a genetic connection and lead to a cure. MomGenes Fight PPD is partnering with influencers, celebrities, and a denim brand to add voices to the campaign and to bring affected women together. The goal of MomGenes Fight PPD is to rally 100,000 women who have suffered postpartum depression to donate their DNA via a simple at-home saliva collection kit.

The National Curriculum in Reproductive Psychiatry is the first-ever complete educational system addressing women’s mental health across the reproductive lifespan. The curriculum includes options for classroom, self-study, and continuing education with modules focusing on the various aspects of reproductive mental health with an emphasis on treating women who are pregnant or postpartum. The complete curriculum is designed for fellowship-level psychiatrists with shorter options for other clinicians. The curriculum and website will be introduced formally later this year.