Emerita Associate Professor Astrid Berg
MBChB (Pret), FFPsych (SA), MPhil (Child & Adolescent Psychiatry)

University of Cape Town
A/Prof Extraordinary
University of Stellenbosch
President World Association for Infant Mental Health

Astrid Berg is a Psychiatrist, Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist as well as a Jungian Analyst. She is an Emerita A/Professor at the University of Cape Town and A/Professor Extraordinary at the Stellenbosch University. While she has been active in the International Association for Analytical Psychology (IAAP) in the past, she focused on and developed her clinical and academic interest in infant mental health, organizing two national and one international conference, all of which contributed to the development of the field in South Africa. She has been on the Executive Committee of the World Association for Infant Mental Health (WAIMH) and is its current President. 

Associate Professor Jane Kohlhoff
University of New South Wales & Karitane

Jane Kohlhoff is an Associate Professor in the Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of New South Wales, Director of Research at Karitane, and a registered clinical psychologist. Jane conducts perinatal, infant and early childhood mental health research, with particular focus on attachment theory and clinical applications, prevention and early intervention models, and the roles of early environmental and biological factors in the intergenerational transmission of risk and resilience.

Associate Professor Jacqui Macdonald
School of Psychology and SEED Lifespan Strategic Research Centre, Deakin University
Convener of the Australian Fatherhood Research Consortium

Associate Professor Jacqui Macdonald is an Australian research leader in paternal mental health and health system access from Deakin University’s SEED Lifespan Research Centre and School of Psychology. She convenes the Australian Fatherhood Research Consortium. She has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and currently leads a Medical Research Future Fund project, 1 in 10 men: Informing prevention of and treatment for paternal mental health problems. She is a chief investigator on the Australian Research Council project, How Australian fathers shape the trajectory of their children’s wellbeing. She is a founding member of the Australian Men and Boys Health Alliance, a scientific advisor to the Australian Longitudinal Study of Male Health and on the Movember Global Men’s Health Advisory Committee. Much of her research uses longitudinal and intergenerational studies that track the lives of boys to men to fathers and then their children into the next generation. In these, she studies opportunities to prepare and then support men who go on to become parents. She is committed to collaborating with researchers, services, practitioners, policymakers and fathers from across Australia and internationally to ensure effective care is available for fathers, so that they may care for their families.
 

Dr. Samantha Meltzer-Brody
MD, MPH

Executive Dean, UNC School of Medicine
Assad Meymandi Distinguished Professor
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Dr. Meltzer-Brody was named the Executive Dean of the UNC School of Medicine in January 2025.   From 2019 until March 2025, she served as the Assad Meymandi Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she also directed the UNC Center for Women’s Mood Disorders. Dr. Meltzer-Brody is an internationally recognized physician-scientist in perinatal depression. Her research has investigated epidemiologic and biological predictors of perinatal depression and innovative treatment approaches. She served as the academic PI for psychopharmacologic clinical trials to develop the first FDA approved medication for postpartum depression (brexanolone), and served as an investigator for the newly approved oral drug (zuranolone) for PPD.   She has also served as a co-PI for a PCORI funded study to scale psychotherapy for perinatal depression using trained non-specialists and virtual care delivery.  Dr. Meltzer-Brody has received numerous awards for her work.  She was awarded the 2023 NIH Clinical Center Distinguished Clinical Research Scholar and Educator in Residence, named to the 2022 Forbes list of 16 Healthcare Innovators You Should Know, and received the 2020 UNC O Max Gardner award, a UNC System Award (17 universities) for the highest faculty honor.