About Us
Professor Marie-Paule Austin
Professor Austin is the founding St John of
God Chair of Perinatal and Women’s Mental Health at the University
of New South Wales, and has published over 100 articles on
perinatal mental health and mood disorders. Her research interests
include the:
- impact of stress in pregnancy on infant
outcomes
- impact of pregnancy exposure to
antidepressants on infant neurodevelopment
- development of psychosocial risk assessment
tools
Evaluation of psychological interventions and
omega-3 treatment in pregnancy depression
- neurobiological underpinnings of maternal
sensitivity
- impact for mothers and infants of maternal
bipolar disorder in the postnatal period
- impact of perinatal mental health policy on
population health.
Professor Austin led the development of
the beyond
blue National Action Plan for Perinatal Mental
Health (2008)and is Chair of the Expert Advisory Committee
for the national beyondblue & NHMRC Clinical
Practice Guidelines for Depression and Related Disorders -
Anxiety, Bipolar Disorder and Puerperal Psychosis - in the
Perinatal Period.
Nicole Reilly
Nicole is the Research Coordinator at the
Perinatal and Women’s Mental Health Unit. She has extensive
experience conducting research in the field of perinatal
mental health, including coordinating a five-year longitudinal
study examining the impact of anxiety during pregnancy and early
parenthood on maternal and child outcomes. Nicole co-wrote the
beyondblue National Action Plan for Perinatal Mental
Health (2008) and contributed to the beyondblue Clinical
Practice Guidelines for Depression and Related Disorders – Anxiety,
Bipolar Disorder and Puerperal Psychosis – in the Perinatal Period.
She has an ongoing interest in the role of perinatal mental health
policy initiatives in improving outcomes for women and families.
Nicole’s other research interests include the impact of bipolar
disorder on the experience of parenting, the validation of
psychosocial risk assessment tools, and outcomes for women admitted
to specialist mother-baby inpatient units.
Dr Janan Karatas
Dr Karatas is a Senior Research Officer at the
Perinatal and Women’s Mental Health Unit. Her interests in
perinatal mental health research began with her involvement in the
beyondblue Postnatal Depression Program and have grown to include
brain sciences and genetics. Janan is now drawing on these
research interests to develop an fMRI study exploring maternal
responsiveness in mothers with bipolar disorder.
Tracy Heung
Tracy is a Masters Psychology candidate and works as a Research
Assistant on two studies; one examining the impact of stress
in pregnancy on infant outcomes and the other examining the effect
of pregnancy exposure to antidepressants on infant
neurodevelopment.