Perinatal Psychiatry

Annamaria Cattaneo is associate professor at the University of Milan, and she is heading the laboratory of biological psychiatry, at the IRCCS Fatebenefratelli Institute, where she is also deputy scientific director. She dedicates her research both to understanding the complex interplay between early life adversities and the development of mental health disorders, and to identifying peripheral biomarkers associated with the risk of developing mood disorders and treatment response. Recently, she has also started to explore the liver-brain axis and its role in the development of comorbidities between mental and physical disorders.

She has more than 140 publications in PubMed, leading to SCOPUS H-Index = 49, and more than 8500 citations and she is leading or taking part in many national and international projects (i.e.,H2020 R-Link and EarlyCause, HappyMums, EuNextGeneration grants). A significant focus of her current work is on perinatal mental health, aiming to uncover the biological, social, and environmental factors that shape the risk for depression during pregnancy and its impact on offspring outcomes. She has been awarded a Young Investigator Award by FRRB (Regional Foundation for Biomedical Research) for a project on ‘Exposures to PRenatal and postnatal adverse stressful Experiences (PRESeNT)’. Moreover, as the coordinator of the HappyMums Project, a Horizon Europe initiative, she leads a Consortium of 17 international partners to improve the understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying the development of depressive symptoms in pregnancy and the efficacy of interventions. Annamaria’s passion for her work extends beyond the laboratory, as she actively engages in dissemination activities to raise awareness about mental health issues among the general population. Indeed, during the 37th ECNP Congress in Milan, she organised the 3rd edition of Luci e Ombre/Lights and Shadows, a show aimed at bringing together science, art, and community to promote mental well-being.