In this episode, my guest is Assoc. Prof. Venus Mahmoodi. She is an associate professor at Columbia University Medical Center (CUIMC), Clinical Researcher at the Early N3 Lab at CUIMC, and also directs the Muslim Perinatal Lab at Teachers College, Columbia University. From her multiple positions as a researcher and a clinical psychologist, and from how she talks about her research with a great sense of humor in the interview, you can tell that she is genuinely passionate about her work and looking for ways to be helpful to people through her research and clinical work. I can assure you that the interview is worth the 50 minutes!

If you’re interested in specific parts, you can skip to them directly here:

01:10 Choosing academia 

05:00 First interest in research 

07:15 Clinical Practice and going into research

11:50 Interest in Muslim mental health and challenges in early career 

19:50 Current research questions 

33:50 Balancing multiple roles

37:55 Joys and challenges in research and clinical work 

42:40 Article suggestions for those interested in perinatal mental health 

See here!

45:05 Advice for graduate students