VCU news

By Sathya Achia Abraham

A Virginia Commonwealth University expert in women’s mental health is raising the profile of psychiatry and highlighting its integral role in women’s issues through her new position as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Women’s Health.

Susan G. Kornstein, M.D., a professor of psychiatry and obstetrics and gynecology, is the first psychiatrist to hold the position, as noted in a recent feature article in Psychiatric News, the national newsletter of the American Psychiatric Association.

Today, the field of women’s health has become more expansive as clinicians and researchers are recognizing that women’s mental health issues are often connected to their physical and social health. Examining the full spectrum of women’s health – reproductive and endocrine function, cardiovascular health, breast health, bone health, and mental health – may allow for better diagnoses and treatment of women’s issues and for more interdisciplinary collaborations across the medical field.

Kornstein wrote in an editorial upon assuming leadership of the Journal of Women’s Health that there is little known about gender differences in health and disease. She called for an exploration of these issues through research and medical education to improve health care for both men and women.

“In recent years, we have learned a great deal about how depression affects women,” Kornstein said. “And we have learned there are important differences when evaluating and treating depressed women compared to depressed men.”

In the United States, depression is approximately twice as common in women as in men. More than 20 percent of women will experience depression in the course of their lifetime. The risk for depression in women is highest during the childbearing years.

The journal focuses on the diseases and conditions that hold greater risk for or are more prevalent among women and provides research and therapeutic options for the management of these diseases. Features include original papers and review articles, editorial commentary, news from Women's Health Networks and reports from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Kornstein is co-founder and executive director of the VCU Institute for Women's Health, designated a National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She is also director of clinical research for VCU’s Department of Psychiatry and executive director of the VCU Mood Disorders Institute.

A nationally recognized researcher with expertise in women’s mental health and depression, Kornstein has been a principal investigator on over 40 research studies in the areas of depression, anxiety disorders and premenstrual syndrome.

She edited the first comprehensive textbook on women’s mental health and is currently president-elect of the International Association for Women’s Mental Health and program chair for the Third World Congress on Women’s Mental Health.

In addition to promoting an understanding of gender differences and addressing a broad spectrum of medical topics relevant to women’s health across the lifespan, Kornstein says the journal will also address broader issues such as the fragmentation of women's health care, under-funding of research and the politicization of women's health issues.

Wendy S. Klein, M.D., associate professor of internal medicine and obstetrics and gynecology at VCU, serves as deputy editor of the Journal.

For more information, visit http://www.liebertpub.com/publication.aspx?pub_id=42.