Mercedes J. Szpunar, MD

Dr. Mercedes Szpunar, MD, PhD is the Physician Director of the Maternal Mental Health Program at Hoag. She completed the Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry. She trained at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) in the Psychiatry Residency Research Track and the UCSD Women’s Reproductive Mental Health clinical training program. She then completed a Women’s Health post-doctoral research fellowship at the San Diego Department of Veterans Affairs, where she designed a study to characterize mental health symptoms – including depression, posttraumatic stress, and anxiety – in pregnant and postpartum women veterans.

Dr. Szpunar served as interim director of the Hoag Maternal Mental Health clinic in 2020. From 2021 to 2023, she was faculty at Harvard Medical School. She led analyses using data collected by the Massachusetts General Hospital National Pregnancy Registry for Psychiatric Medications, with the goal to increase reproductive safety knowledge of psychiatric medications. She was involved in several studies that investigated a potential role for neuroactive steroids as treatment for depression during the reproductive phases of postpartum and perimenopause.

Her honors include acceptance to the American Psychiatric Association Research Colloquium for Junior Investigators in 2018, the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology New Investigator Award in 2021, and the Anne Klibanski Visiting Scholars Award in 2022. She has 10 first-author scientific publications.

Dr. Szpunar’s expertise includes diagnosis and treatment of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), and perimenopausal depression. As a clinician, she emphasizes lifestyle and behavioral modifications – including nutrition, exercise, sleep, and self-care – to improve patient outcomes.