Phyllis Zelkowitz

Biography

Dr. Zelkowitz is Research Director in the Department of Psychiatry at the Jewish General Hospital, a senior investigator and psychosocial axis head at the Lady Davis Institute, and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University. She serves as Head of the Science Review Committee for the Jewish General Hospital. Her research interests are in the field of perinatal mental health, incorporating individual, contextual, and cultural factors. Dr. Zelkowitz received a CIHR Emerging Team Grant in Perinatal Mental Health. This 5 year grant funded a research program that combines multiple methods in the study of perinatal mental illness, linking adverse life circumstances, hormonal and physiological risk factors to maternal mental health problems, which in turn may affect the mother-infant relationship. Other ongoing research involves an examination of the social context and psychological distress in couples seeking fertility treatment. She published the first data showing that public funding for in vitro fertilization in Quebec has afforded access to treatment in previously underserved patient groups. She has recently been awarded a 5-year CIHR team grant to develop mobile health interventions for men with fertility concerns, either with their partners or as a result of cancer and its treatment.           

Research Interest

Perinatal mental health; psychosocial factors related to fertility health; risk factors for borderline pathology in adolescents; transitional care for children and families following Child Psychiatry Day Hospital treatment