Dr. Jennifer Barkin is a tenured Professor of Community Medicine and OBGYN at the Mercer University School of Medicine.  She serves as the Vice-Chair of the Community Medicine Department and the Executive Director of the Center for Rural Health and Health Disparities, which is one of two rural-health focused NIH Centers of Excellence in the country.  Dr. Barkin is also the Project Director for South Georgia Healthy Start, a 5.5 million dollar initiative funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).  A University of Pittsburgh-trained biostatistician (M.S.) and psychiatric epidemiologist (PhD), she completed a postdoctoral scholarship at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Dr. Barkin’s intellectual property, the Barkin Index of Maternal Functioning (BIMF), was developed during her time as a doctoral student at the Epidemiology Data Center (University of Pittsburgh).  The BIMF has been commercially licensed thirteen times, including for the clinical trials for FDA-breakthrough postpartum depression medication Zulresso® (brexanolone).  Dr. Barkin collaborates with organizations all over the world to validate the index and explore pertinent research questions related to maternal functioning.  She serves on the Steering Committee for the Georgia Clinicians for Climate Action and the clinical advisory board for Memora Health and Joyuus, Inc.  In her former role as Chair of Corporate Sponsorship (Board of Directors), for Postpartum Support International, Georgia Chapter she led a large fundraising effort for the Black Maternal Mental Health Summit – the conference/chapter was subsequently recognized with the prestigious Jane Honikman Award. She has provided expert testimony before the Georgia House of Representatives Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Committee and has been invited to present before legislators at various levels of government.   Her recent work has been described as “state-of-the-art” and includes a focus on the mental health effects of climate change on mothers and children. She has participated on numerous expert panels including the New England Journal of Medicine’s Resident 360 Roundtable, the Global Women’s Leadership in Climate Panel, and the Mothers and Others for Clean Air Month panel.  Her work has also been featured by Mad in America, the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health, ecoAmerica, the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), the University of Pittsburgh, and Carnegie Mellon University (B.S., Statistics) – to name a few.  

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