In honor of Black Maternal Health Week, we are highlighting the work of Cynthia Rogers, MD, and the impact she has had on moms and babies in the St. Louis region. Dr. Rogers is a perinatal, child, and adolescent psychiatrist, the Associate Director for the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity, and Equity at Washington University School of Medicine, and Director of Washington University’s Perinatal Behavioral Health Service.
Dr. Rogers has been connected with Generate Health’s Perinatal and Behavioral Health Initiative (PBHI) through her leadership at Washington University’s Perinatal Behavioral Health Service — a large clinical service of dedicated social workers, therapists, psychologists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, and psychiatrists that provide mental health screening and multimodal treatment for perinatal mental health disorders in pregnant and postpartum people. In previous years, she has also partnered with Postpartum Support International and Generate Health to provide education and trainings for perinatal providers on the evaluation and treatment of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders.
Through her clinical work and research endeavors, Dr. Rogers has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to supporting the mental health of perinatal mothers and serving the developmental needs of high-risk infants. “We are committed to improving access to mental health care for Black pregnant and parenting people as optimizing their mental health benefits the entire family,” says Dr. Rogers. Much of her research is focused on how “adverse exposures like poverty, structural racism, prematurity, and prenatal substance use affect development across childhood in racially diverse populations.” In addition, she is working to “understand the role of psychosocial stressors, including maternal experiences of racial discrimination, maternal mental health, and dysfunctional parenting in affecting the development of the neonatal brain and contributing to childhood psychiatric disorders.” Given the unprecedented stressors for pregnant and parenting families in the past year, Dr. Rogers’ work has become all the more pertinent for improving Black maternal and infant mortality rates.
In 2017, Dr. Rogers received our Corinne Walentik Provider Award for her dedication to improving the health and lives of moms and babies in our region. This Black Maternal Health Week, we are honored to feature her continued work and dedication in our Community Partner Spotlight.
