I am a board-certified psychiatric/mental health clinical nurse specialist and psychiatric nurse practitioner with over 20 years of clinical experience. I have a private practice in Wakefield, Massachusetts where I specialize in women’s mental health. I provide psychotherapy and medication management with special attention to the specific needs of women, particularly pregnant and postpartum women.

In addition to my private practice, I am also a Professor in the School of Nursing at MGH Institute of Health Professions where I teach courses in psychotherapy and in psychopharmacology in the Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner program and supervise students in clinical practice and in scholarship. I was instrumental in developing, and I currently coordinate, the Mind Body Spirit Nursing Certificate program, a collaboration between the MGH Institute of Health Professions and the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.

I have an active program of research focused on prenatal and postpartum mood and anxiety disorders, parent-infant relationships, and the development of interventions for preventing and treating perinatal depression and anxiety. I have presented nationally and internationally and have numerous research and clinical publications.

I am an alumna of the prestigious Robert Wood Johnson Nurse Faculty Scholar Fellowship. I have received several awards for my research and scholarship, including research funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of Nursing Research, the American Nurses Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, Postpartum Support International, and the Association of Women’s Health and Obstetrical and Neonatal Nurses. I am a  Faculty Nurse Scientist at The Yvonne L. Munn Center for Nursing Research at Massachusetts General Hospital. 

During my tenure as coordinator of the Massachusetts Chapter of Postpartum Support International, I was instrumental in establishing the Massachusetts Postpartum Support Warmline, a resource for women and families seeking clinical and support services for postpartum mental health difficulties.  I currently serve as a commissioner on the Massachusetts Special Legislative Commission on Postpartum Depression.