Dr. Catherine Monk is Associate Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry, and Obstetrics & Gynecology, and Director for Research at the Women’s Program, Columbia University Medical Center. Trained as a clinical psychologist, she spends the majority of her time on research, and a small percent treating patients most of whom are women experiencing depression or anxiety related to perinatal issues. Dr. Monk’s research brings together the fields of psychopathology, developmental psychobiology, and neuroscience to focus on the earliest influences on children’s developmental trajectories —those that happen in utero and how to intervene early to prevent risk for mental health problems in the future children. Several of these projects are funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health as well as by private foundations including the Robin Hood Foundation.