Medicine Grand Rounds- Dr. Samantha Meltzer-Brody presents: “Developing Precision Medicine Approaches in Psychiatry– Research Innovation to Improve Treatment of Perinatal Depression”

Dr. Samantha Meltzer-Brody, MD, MPH is the Assad Meymandi Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  She also directs the UNC Center for Women’s Mood Disorders. As Chair, Dr. Meltzer-Brody directs one of the largest public university departments of psychiatry in the United States and collaborates with UNC Health and the state of North Carolina on broad-based initiatives to improve mental health.

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 well-being 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 sub-Saharan Africa.  She had led the MOMS GENES study—the largest global genetic study of postpartum depression (PPD) using app-based tools. She also served as the academic PI for the novel psychopharmacologic clinical trials developing the first FDA-approved medication for postpartum depression (brexanolone) and also served an investigator for the newly approved oral drug (zuranolone) for PPD.

Dr. Meltzer-Brody has received numerous awards for her work.  She was awarded the 2023 NIH Clinical Center Distinguished Clinical Research Scholar and Educator in Residence, and the 2020 UNC O Max Gardner Award, a UNC System Award (17 universities) for the highest faculty honor. Dr. Meltzer-Brody is also the recipient of the 2019 American Psychiatric Association Alexandra Symonds Award in Women’s Mental Health.   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.