Katherine L. Wisner M.D., M.S., is professor of psychiatry, obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences and epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and director of the Women's Behavioral HealthCARE program at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic (WPIC) of the University Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). She also serves as an associate investigator at the Magee-Womens Research Institute.
Dr. Wisner's main focus is research related to the psychiatric treatment of women of childbearing age. She is recognized as an expert in the treatment of depression during pregnancy and the postpartum period. She currently is the principal investigator on several National Institute of Mental Health- and foundation-funded research projects including the impact of treatment using a class of antidepressant medications called selective seratonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) on maternal role functioning during the first postpartum year, the use of antidepressants during pregnancy and the efficacy of bright light treatment for patients with bipolar disorder.
She is certified in general, child and adolescent psychiatry from the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Her memberships in professional and scientific societies include the American Medical Association, Association of Women Psychiatrists, American College of Psychiatrists and the Jacob’s Institute for Women’s Health. Dr. Wisner’s is a distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and is a consultant for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Safe Motherhood Initiative and for the federal Food and Drug Administration’s pediatric subcommittee on the effects of maternal SSRI use on newborns. Dr. Wisner also is a delegate for the prestigious Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) program from Drexel University.
Throughout her career, Dr. Wisner has authored more than 130 peer-reviewed articles, presentation papers and book chapters, and she has participated in more than 50 seminars and invited lectureships.
Dr. Wisner obtained a master of science degree in nutrition and a medical degree from Case Western Reserve University, followed by a categorical pediatric internship in integrated general and child psychiatry at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and WPIC in 1981. In 1988, she served as a post-doctoral fellow in the interdisciplinary training program in epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH).
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