International Speakers
Prof Prabha Chandra (India)
Professor of Psychiatry and has been working in the field of perinatal psychiatry since 1994. She has worked at Mother Baby Psychiatry units in the UK and has special interest in the areas of Pre- pregnancy and Pre- conception counseling in mothers with mental health problems; interventions for mother infant bonding disorders and medication use in pregnancy and postpartum
Prof Muthoni Mathai (Kenya)
Prof Muthoni Mathai is An associate Professor at the - Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Nairobi in Kenya. Is a clinician and researcher having graduated as a doctor from the University of Nairobi in 1983, awarded a Masters’ degree in Psychiatry (M. Med Psychiatry) 1990 at the same university in 1990. Was awarded a PhD in Social Work in 2005 at the University of Kassel in Germany as a recipient of a scholarship by the Heinrich Boell Foundation. In 2007 returned to Kenya to take up a teaching position at the University of Nairobi, Faculty of Health Sciences. Interested in Depressive disorders, Trauma, Adolescence and Maternal mental health. Is a therapist and trainer for TF-CBT and Interpersonal Therapy. Has been a researcher for several years with predominantly funding from the National Institute of Health. MPI, of now concluded DAPPER NIH/GACD project. MPI of an NIH funded: Integrating A Transdiagnostic Psychological Intervention in The Care for Adolescents and Youth with HIV In Kenya. Member of Kenya Psychiatric Association, Kenya Medical Association and a previous board member of World Association of Cultural Psychiatry.
María F. Rodríguez-Muñoz (Spain)
María F. Rodríguez-Muñoz is Full Professor in the Department of Personality, Assessment, and Psychological Treatment at the Faculty of Psychology, National University of Distance Education (UNED), Spain. She is Editor-in-Chief of Clinical and Health and Associate Editor of Archives of Women’s Mental Health. Her clinical, teaching, and research career has focused on perinatal mental health, with over a decade of experience in advancing knowledge and evidence-based interventions for mothers and infants. Since 2013, she has directed the Proyecto Mamás y Bebés, a collaborative initiative involving George Washington University (USA), Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias and ,Primary and community care network of the Basque Country , conducting research on maternal mental health and perinatal outcomes. Her work emphasizes randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews, generating evidence that informs both clinical practice and public health policies. She has authored more than 80 publications, participated in multiple competitively funded research projects, and supervised several doctoral theses. . She also leads the Special Interest Group on Refugee and Immigrant Mental Health of the Marcé Society, contributing to global awareness and intervention strategies. Her contributions have been recognized with awards including the Transfer and Communication Award from the Official College of Psychologists of Madrid and the Banco Santander Research Award. Through her leadership, research, and editorial work, she continues to advance understanding of perinatal mental health and to foster the translation of scientific evidence into practice.
Dr Lauren Osborne (USA)
Lauren M. Osborne graduated from Weill Cornell Medical College and received her psychiatric 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, the postpartum, the premenstrual period, and perimenopause. Dr. Osborne is an Associate Professor of OB-GYN and of Psychiatry and serves as the Vice Chair of Clinical Research in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Weill Cornell Medicine. Her research on perinatal mental illness focuses on models of care and on biological mechanisms and biomarkers, with a focus on neurosteroids and the immune system, and she runs the PIPPI Lab – Psychoneuroimmunology in Pregnancy and Postpartum – at Weill Cornell. Dr. Osborne’s clinical work consists of collaborative care for perinatal mental health within OB/GYN. She is also the President-Elect of 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, the Department of Defense, the NIMH, and the NICHD.
