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Newsmaker: Pinpointing postpartum depression risks

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WBZ-TV recently featured a story about physician-scientists at UMass Medical School who are using a series of innovative imaging techniques to measure chemical levels in the brains of postpartum women in an effort to understand why certain women develop depression after giving birth. Researchers believe that clues gleaned from the brain’s chemistry may be used to understand what causes the disorder so that future research can help identify women who are at high risk of developing postpartum depression before it occurs. 

Kristina Deligiannidis, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry and principal investigator on the study, and Constance Moore, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry and associate director of translational imaging, are featured in the story. 

“The hope is to develop a screening test so we can identify these women at an earlier point and offer them treatment sooner,” said Dr. Deligiannidis. View the story here 

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Study uses brain imaging to understand postpartum depression 

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