Psychiatric Medication in Pregnancy and Lactation: What Can Women Take?

Barbara Byers MD MPH is the co-founder of Capital Mental Health and is an adult and reproductive psychiatrist in Chevy Chase MD, specializing in the treatment of women who have mood and anxiety disorders surrounding the perinatal period. She also is the Co-Founder of the DC Metro Perinatal Mental Health Collaborative.

Dr. Byers graduated from the University of Virginia with a BS in Chemistry with a specialization in Biochemistry in 1997 and then got her Master’s in Public Health in 2000, where she did a needs assessment and developed a health curriculum for homeless women in Savannah, Georgia. In 2004 she graduated from medical school at the University of Rochester and then did a psychiatry residency at New York University/Bellevue, where she trained in reproductive psychiatry.

Dr. Byers served as the medical director of the Women’s Mental Health Program at Georgetown University Hospital from 2008-2012, where she clinically managed patients and taught residents and faculty about perinatal mental health. She has done multiple training and interviews for media outlets over the past 16 years of her career. When not practicing psychiatry, Dr. Byers can be found hanging out with her preteen, teenager, and fluffy dog Chase.