Dr. Katherine Wisner is Professor of Psychiatry, and Pediatrics in the Developing Brain Institute at Children’s National Hospital, and Obstetrics and Gynecology at George Washington University School of Medicine, in Washington DC. She received her M.S. in Nutrition and an M.D. from Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, Ohio), followed by a pediatric internship and general and child psychiatry residency at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.  She completed a post-doctoral research fellowship in Epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh. 

Dr. Wisner is a pioneer in the field of perinatal psychiatry. Her research has advanced our understanding of the natural history of mood disorders across childbearing, benefit-harm decision-making for pharmacotherapy during pregnancy and lactation, and the pharmacokinetics of medications across pregnancy and lactation. She is internationally recognized as an expert in the treatment of mood disorders during pregnancy and the postpartum period.  Dr. Wisner has received over $22 million from the National Institutes of Health, and has published 270 peer-reviewed publications and 23 book chapters. Her work has been cited by authors in more than 90 countries.

She was awarded the annual American Psychiatric Association Award for Research in 2017.  Dr. Wisner received the annual Mentor Award from Northwestern School of Medicine in 2022.  She received the Marcè International Society for Perinatal Mental Health’s Medal for lifetime contributions to the field of Perinatal Psychiatry. Dr. Wisner has served on the Editorial Board of the American Journal of Psychiatry and currently serves on the Editorial Boards of JAMA Psychiatry.  She is a Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. She is a member of the Standing Committee on Reproductive Health, Equity, and Society, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. With her experience as a past president of the Marcé International Society for Perinatal Mental Health, she developed the business startup plan for the North American Society for Perinatal Mental Health (now Marcé of North America- MONA), and served as its inaugural president.