Maithri F. Ameresekere, MD, MSc, PMH-C

Biography

Dr. Maithri Ameresekere is a clinical associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine (BUCASM) and Director of Women’s Mental Health at Boston Medical Center and BUCASM. She is a psychiatrist with specialized training in post-traumatic stress disorder, and reproductive and perinatal psychiatry. She is embedded in the ambulatory obstetrics department at Boston Medical Center and provides clinical services and training experiences in the Refugee Women’s Health Clinic, Project RESPECT (a multidisciplinary program focused on pregnant and postpartum patients with substance use disorders), and OB-integrated behavioral health. She has participated in mentorship and teaching of over 90 multidisciplinary trainees including receiving multiple nominations and an award for mentorship and teaching. She has provided didactic teaching on a variety of reproductive mental health focused topics and shaped curriculum efforts in women’s mental health, cultural and public psychiatry and capacity building in resource poor war-exposed environments. Her scholarly work has focused on understanding barriers to care for multicultural populations in the United States and globally as well as educating diverse healthcare providers in mental health service provision in resource-limited settings. She graduated with research honors during medical training for work on Somali immigrant women's perceptions of cesarean delivery and patient-provider communication surrounding female circumcision and childbirth in the United States and was involved in projects related to patient-level barriers to accessing mental health services amongst African immigrant communities in Massachusetts. She has provided technical expertise to a World Bank funded project in South Sudan focused on evaluating the impact of programming efforts on adolescent girls’ lives and published review articles in the South Sudan Medical Journal in an effort to share knowledge regarding diagnosis and management of common psychiatric disorders.