Symposia Speakers
Implementing and Evaluating HUGS Across Three Continents: A Mother-Baby Intervention to Protect Early Relationships After Postpartum Depression
Prof Jeannette Milgrom (Australia)
Jeannette Milgrom, Professor of Psychology, University of Melbourne and Director, Parent-Infant Research Institute (PIRI). She was recognized in 2018 as a Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia. She has developed innovative programs to treat parental depression as well as the dyadic relationship. Her interest in increasing access through digital technology has won her a government funded NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence and has seen the national implementation of online maternal and paternal treatments MumMoodBooster (trialled over 10 years in RCTs) and DadBooster. She developed the HUGS program and is now expanding its application with Dr Charlene Holt.
Dr Carole Gentilleau (France)
Dr Carole Gentilleau is a child psychiatrist at Toulouse University Hospital. During her research internship for her Master’s degree in 2018, she met Professor Jeannette Milgrom and Dr Charlene Holt, with whom she has continued to collaborate ever since. She is currently completing a PhD on the cultural adaptation and evaluation of the HUGS mother-baby intervention among French mothers. She is also involved in developing perinatal mental health services in Rwanda. During her trip to Rwanda, she made a documentary to showcase this work on mental health, which will be screened at the conference.
Dr Anne-Laure Sutter-Dallay ( France)
Perinatal psychiatrist, head the University Perinatal Psychiatry department in Bordeaux-France and professor of perinatal psychiatry at the Bordeaux University. The department includes a full and a part-time mother and baby unit, a liaison psychiatry service covering the two largest maternity hospitals of the department, a mobile team and a regional expert team aimed at the organization of complex care pathways for women with psychiatric disorders during the perinatal period. Research themes: treatments of parental perinatal psychiatric disorders, and their effects on fetal and newborn development
Dr Marie-Providence Umuziga (Rwanda)
Marie Providence Umuziga, PhD, is a psychiatric nurse specialist, Global Nursing Leadership Institute (GNLI) scholar, and lecturer in the Department of Mental Health at the University of Rwanda, School of Nursing and Midwifery. Her work focuses on maternal mental health, particularly perinatal depression and strengthening community-based care. She has led and contributed to national initiatives integrating maternal mental health into primary healthcare, including developing competency-based training for community health workers with the Rwanda Biomedical Centre. Umuziga also supports health system strengthening through mentorship, research, and leadership in regional nursing and mental health professional organizations
