Aimee Danielson, PhD, is the Founder and Director of the Women’s Mental Health Program at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.  She is a Clinical Psychologist and Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Obstetrics & Gynecology in the Georgetown School of Medicine.  She has worked exclusively in the field of perinatal mental health since creating her own postdoctoral fellowship in this area in 2002. Since that time, she has developed and implemented numerous clinical, academic and research programs to respond to the unmet mental health needs of perinatal women.  In 2008, she founded the Women’s Mental Health Program at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in response to a critical need for specialized care at this institution and in the region. This program, which she continues to direct and participate in clinical care, provides specialized psychiatric care for pregnant and postpartum women.  Across MedStar, she leads numerous efforts to train medical providers, residents, students, and nurses on screening for perinatal mental health disorders and has successfully implemented universal maternal depression screening across various hospital-based settings including outpatient obstetrics, acute inpatient obstetrics and pediatrics.

Dr. Danielson is a founding member of the DC Metro Perinatal Mental Health Collaborative and an active member of several local maternal mental health initiatives, each of which have enabled her to grow the capacity of perinatal mental health providers across DC and serve as an advocate for both perinatal mental health awareness and increased access to quality mental health care.  Over the past several years, she has led numerous efforts centrally focused on expanding perinatal mental health services in the District of Columbia.  Most recently, this work has focused on the integration of mental health care into the obstetric setting at MedStar Washington Hospital Center as part of the “Safe Babies, Safe Moms” MedStar/Clark initiative.

As an expert in the field, she speaks locally and nationally on topics related to maternal mental health and wellness in women.  She has been an invited speaker on On Point with Tom Ashbrook (NPR), as well as contributing to stories in the Washington Post and the Huffington Post.