In this podcast, Professor Jayashri Kulkarni speaks on the current social context of women's mental health, and the impact this has in our work as psychiatrists. Professor Kulkarni's podcast focusses on problems with the diagnostic term "Borderline Personality Disorder", as well as the hormone impacts on women's mental health. She speaks about new treatments for premenstrual depression, depression related to hormone contraception and finally the difficult to recognise condition of 'Perimenopausal Depression'. This podcast contains some of the topics that Professor Kulkarni covered in her keynote presentation at the RANZCP College Congress in Sydney in 2022.

Jayashri Kulkarni AM is a Professor of Psychiatry at Monash University & The Alfred Hospital. In 2002, she founded and continues to direct the Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre (MAPrc) – one Australia’s largest and most innovative centres for clinical mental health research, based at the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne. Professor Kulkarni is also the Head of the Psychiatry Department for the Central Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University. 

Jayashri is internationally recognised for her expertise in women’s mental health and in May 2022, with her team of researchers she set up and now directs HER Centre Australia – a Monash University Centre for Health, Education and Research into Women’s Mental Health. This is the first Centre to focus on women’s mental health research in Australia and is a collaboration between Monash University, Alfred Health and Cabrini Health.

In September 2021, after 12 months of designing and planning – Professor Kulkarni and her team, launched Australia’s first women’s mental health hospital- based in Cabrini Health.

Professor Kulkarni was the President of the International Association for Women’s Mental Health (IAWMH) between 2017-2019. She conducted a multinational study of interpersonal violence and its biopsychosocial and intergenerational impacts on women. Professor Kulkarni has developed many innovative treatments for women with mental illness and is an internationally recognised expert in psychoneuroendocrinology and the neuroscience impacts of early and later life violence against women.

Jayashri graduated from Monash Medical School and became a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists in 1989. She became a Fellow of the prestigious Australian Academy of Health & Medical Sciences in 2017 and received an Order of Australia in 2019 for her service to psychiatry.

She is a regular media commentator on mental health related issues and served on many State and Federal Ministerial Boards and Committees, as well as liaising with Industry. Professor Kulkarni has driven policy change in Victoria over many years and is a passionate advocate of lived experience-focused mental health research.

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Disclaimer:
This podcast is provided to you for information purposes only and to provide a broad public understanding of various mental health topics. The podcast may represent the views of the author and not necessarily the views of The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists ('RANZCP'). The podcast is not to be relied upon as medical advice, or as a substitute for medical advice, does not establish a doctor-patient relationship and should not be a substitute for individual clinical judgement. By accessing The RANZCP's podcasts you also agree to the full terms and conditions of the RANZCP's Website. Expert mental health information and finding a psychiatrist in Australia or New Zealand is available on the RANZCP’s Your Health In Mind Website.