Kathryn Emerick, MD

Dr. Kathryn Emerick is a perinatal psychiatrist and she has been a Wildcat for almost 15 years. After graduating from University of Arizona College of Medicine- Tucson, she stayed in town to complete her psychiatry residency at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. While in residency, she developed a particular interest in maternal mental health and sought out specialized education in perinatal psychiatry.

After graduation, she joined Banner/University of Arizona as a faculty member and has spent the past 6 years in academic psychiatry.  As an Assistant Professor, she continued her clinical practice with a focus on perinatal psychiatry and she now helps train the next generation of psychiatrists by providing education and supervision to psychiatry residents on maternal mental health and psychotherapy.

In 2022, Dr. Emerick co-founded the Arizona Perinatal Psychiatry Access Line (APAL) in response to the rising maternal mortality rate and with the belief that all mothers across the state deserve access to high quality, evidence based mental health care. With APAL, Dr. Emerick guides Arizona medical providers caring for pregnant and postpartum moms struggling with their mental health by providing free psychiatric consultation and clinical guidance. She also provides education on maternal mental health to medical groups and community members. As a psychiatrist, and a mother herself of two toddlers, Dr. Emerick remains committed to the mission of APAL and reducing the preventable deaths of mothers due to untreated maternal mental health concerns.