ABOUT DR. Unverferth
Dr. Katie is a nationally recognized expert in Reproductive Psychiatry and Women’s Mental Health. She treats adults across the reproductive lifespan, with particular expertise in premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, postpartum obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), postpartum psychosis, mood changes related to infertility or loss, and perimenopausal depression and anxiety.
Dr. Katie splits her time between academic medicine and private practice in Santa Monica. She is the Director of the UCLA Women’s Life Center, the Medical Director of the UCLA Maternal Mental Health Program, and an Assistant Clinical Professor at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine.
Dr. Katie lectures regularly on Reproductive Psychiatry and Women’s Mental Health, including topics such as depression in pregnancy, postpartum depression, PMDD, and perimenopausal mental health. She teaches psychiatry residents and fellows at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine and serves as a Faculty Lead of the UCLA Women’s Mental Health Concentration. She is also faculty with the National Curriculum for Reproductive Psychiatry (NCRP), where she co-created its educational modules on PMDD. She co-created the psychiatry arm of the UCLA Comprehensive Menopause Program and co-authored the chapter on Premenstrual Mood Disorders in the APA Textbook of Women’s Reproductive Mental Health. In recognition of her work in psychiatric education, she was awarded the UCLA Department of Psychiatry Teaching Award.
Dr. Unverferth’s expertise has been featured in CNN, NPR/AirTalk, National Geographic, the Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, and Women’s Health, as well as other national and international media.
Dr. Katie graduated from Duke University, where she majored in Chemistry with a concentration in Mathematics. She completed research at the Duke Clinical Research Institute with the National Children’s Study. She attended medical school at Georgetown University. While there, she was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society and received the Francis L. Clark, Jr. Award for Excellence in Psychiatry.
She completed her Psychiatry Residency at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior where she served as the Chief Resident in Reproductive Psychiatry. She subsequently completed the UCLA Mood Disorders Fellowship, receiving advanced training in the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders. During residency, she was elected to the local council of the American Psychiatric Association and later served as the Early Career Psychiatrist representative on the Southern California Psychiatric Association Council, where she received the President’s Award for service.
In addition to Reproductive Psychiatry, Dr. Unverferth treats generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, major depressive disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, insomnia, and ADHD.
Highlighted Lectures
Reproductive Psychiatry Made Practical: Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder
American Psychiatric Association - San Francisco, CA | May 2026
Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder: Advances in Understanding and Treatment
Santa Clara Medical Center Grand Rounds – Santa Clara, CA | May 2026
Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder: Advances in Understanding and Treatment
Reproductive Psychiatry Trainees Interest Group – Virtual | May 2026
Women’s Mental Health Across the Lifespan: Introduction to Reproductive Psychiatry
Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine - Virtual | April 2026
Peripartum Depression: What the PCP Needs to Know
Iris Cantor UCLA Women’s Health Center - Los Angeles, California | March 2026
Perimenopausal Depression and Anxiety Course
The Psychopharmacology Institute - Virtual | March 2026
Implementation of a Women’s Mental Health Concentration in a Psychiatry Residency Program
Marce of North America Biannual Conference - Toronto, Canada | November 2025
Neurosteroids: A Novel Treatment for Postpartum Depression
Postpartum Support International Annual Conference – New Orleans, LA | July 2025
Novel Treatments for Postpartum Depression
Santa Clara Medical Center Grand Rounds – Santa Clara, CA | June 2025
Novel Treatments for Postpartum Depression
UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior Grand Rounds – Los Angeles, CA | April 2025
Postpartum Depression: Emerging Treatments
National Psychopharmacology Update – Las Vegas, NV | February 2025
Women’s Mental Health
American Medical Women’s Association Women’s Health Conference – Los Angeles, CA | October 2024
Depression in Pregnancy
UCLA-Harbor Psychiatry Grand Rounds – Virtual | February 2023
Perimenopausal Mood and Anxiety Disorders
Your Anxiety Toolkit Podcast – Virtual | March 2023
Premenstrual Exacerbation of Mood Disorders
National Curriculum for Reproductive Psychiatry (NCRP) Fellow Didactic Series – Virtual | May 2022 – May 2023
Depression in Pregnancy
National Psychopharmacology Update – Las Vegas, NV | February 2022
ONgoing Teaching
UCLA Women’s Life Center, David Geffen School of Medicine
Los Angeles, CA | 2022 – Present
UCLA Psychiatry Residency Lectures
Los Angeles, CA | 2019 – Present
Reproductive Psychiatry Publications
Erin Murphy-Barzilay, Katherine Unverferth and Laura Obler. “Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder” in APA Textbook of Women’s Reproductive Mental Health. American Psychiatric Association. Published 2021.
Erin Murphy Barzilay and Katherine Unverferth. Premenstrual Mood Symptoms. National Curriculum for Reproductive Psychiatry. http://ncrptraining.org/learning-modules/
Additional Publications
Jason Chen, Katherine Unverferth and Erick Cheung. Delayed-onset seizure in a mild quetiapine overdose: report of a case and review of the literature. Case Reports in Psychiatry., Vol 2018.
Michael Mariorenzi, Amy Matson and Katherine Unverferth, “Constrictive Pericarditis” in Learning Cardiac Auscultation: From Essentials to Expert Clinical Interpretation. Allen Taylor, M.D., Ed. New York: Springer Science, 2015.
Priscilla Dass-Brailsford Ed.D., Rebecca Tomley Psy.D., Nicholas Talisman and Katherine Unverferth. Understanding Children’s Reactions to the Haitian Earthquake. Traumatology, Vol. 21(1), Mar 2015, 14-21.