Topic: An Update on Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder

Kimberly Yonkers is the Katz Family Chair of Psychiatry at UMass Chan Medical School/UMass Memorial Medical Center. As a Physician Scientist, her impact on the field of mood and substance use disorders in women is substantial. She has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health for over 20 years. These projects focused on exploring optimal ways to identify, engage and treat mood disorders and substance use disorders in women, particularly pregnant, premenstrual and postpartum individuals.

Over the past 20 years, Dr. Yonkers has been a major contributor to the literature on premenstrual dysphoric disorder. She was a member of the group that evaluated whether it should be a diagnosis in DSM 5. She conducted numerous treatment studies, including pivotal studies showing the PMDD is responsive to treatment with serotonin reuptake inhibitors.

Dr. Yonkers is an active educator and mentor. She is author of more than 200 peer reviewed publications, 26 chapters and 2 edited books. Among her invited lectures and awards are those from the American Psychiatric Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry.

Topic: Contemporary Management of Diabetes in Pregnancy

Dr. Gianna Wilkie is a physician scientist with a clinical and academic focus on diabetes and cardiometabolic health in pregnancy and in the postpartum period. She is a proud alumni of UMass Chan School of Medicine, and completed her OB-GYN residency at the combined program at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. She then returned to UMass and completed her fellowship in Maternal Fetal Medicine here.

Her work focuses on improving outcomes for women with both pregestational and gestational diabetes and identifying innovative strategies to reduce their long-term risk of cardiovascular disease. She has particular expertise in the use of emerging therapies, including GLP-1 receptor agonists, in the postpartum period and in translating research findings into clinical practice. In this lecture, she will discuss the evolving landscape of diabetes in pregnancy and opportunities to improve care and outcomes for patients.

Topic: Sexual Health in Midlife

Dr. Sameena Rahman is a board-certified OB/GYN, sex-med gynecologist, menopause specialist and clinical assistant professor of OB/GYN at the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine.  She is the founder of the GYN & Sexual Medicine Collective, a concierge practice that emphasizes compassionate, evidence-based and trauma-informed care.

A Fellow of the International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health (ISSWSH), Dr. Rahman serves on its Board of Directors and chairs its Scientific Committee. She is also a Menopause Society Certified Physician and serves on the Educational Committee of The Menopause Society.

Dr. Rahman hosts the podcast Gyno Girl Presents: Sex, Drugs & Hormones and will release her first book, Brown Girls Disease? A Guide to Sexual Health and Empowerment through a South Asian Lens in October 2026. She is a medical advisor to Let's Talk Menopause, Flo Health, Evvy, and the National Menopause Foundation, and serves on the Forbes Health Advisory Board.

Topic: Perinatal Mental Health

Dr. Moore Simas is the Donna M. and Robert J. Manning Chair and Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology at UMass Chan Medical School and UMass Memorial Health. An academic general obstetrician-gynecologist, physician-scientist, educator, and advocate, her work has focused on integrating obstetric and mental health care and advancing maternal health nationally.

Dr. Moore Simas is a founding leader of MCPAP for Moms, the nation's first statewide perinatal psychiatry access program and a model for similar programs across the United States. She has maintained a federally funded research portfolio, authored more than 200 publications, and helped develop nationally disseminated resources to improve perinatal mental health care.

She currently serves as President of the Society of Academic Specialists in General Obstetrics & Gynecology (SASGOG) and is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Board of Obstetrics & Gynecology (ABOG).

Topic: A Marriage of Convenience: Memorial and UMass before UMass Memorial

Dr. Dale Magee was on the staff of Worcester Memorial and UMass Chan Medical School practicing general OB/GYN from the time that he finished his residency at Case Western Reserve in 1979 until his retirement in 2015. He has served as president of the Massachusetts Medical Society, as well as in a number of roles in Public Health, including as Commissioner of Public Health for Worcester.

He has had an interest in the history of medicine for his whole career, collecting antique books and instruments, designing the display of forceps at Memorial and is currently leading the New England History of Medicine Society that provides presentations every few months as well as tours of the region.

Topic: Changing Paradigms: The Evolution of Hypertensive Care in Pregnancy

Heidi K. Leftwich, DO, is an Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School /UMass Memorial Health. She specializes in the care of patients with high-risk pregnancies, including pregnancy complicated by medical conditions and hypertensive disorders such as preeclampsia. She also serves as Director of the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship Program at UMass Chan and is the Chief of the Division of Research.

Her research has included studies examining preeclampsia and the maternal microbiome, diabetes management in pregnancy, fetal and neonatal outcomes, and the impact of COVID-19 on pregnancy. She has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications and has current funding through the NIH, PCORI, and Massachusetts Life Sciences Center.

Dr. Leftwich is passionate about combining high-quality, compassionate care for patients with high-risk pregnancies with research and education that advance maternal-fetal medicine and improve outcomes for pregnant patients and their babies.

Topic: Complex Family Planning

Topic: Rethinking Fertility Care: Science, Access and The Whole Patient

Dr. Ikhena-Abel (fondly referred to as Dr. Debo by her patients) earned her medical degree from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, followed by her Ob/Gyn residency at the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine in Worcester, MA. She further honed her expertise with a fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at Northwestern University. Dr. Ikhena-Abel is deeply committed to assisting her patients in growing their families, destigmatizing infertility and pregnancy loss, and providing comprehensive education on the medical and mental health aspects of these journeys.

Dr. Ikhena-Abel specializes in a wide range of women’s health conditions, including infertility, fertility preservation, polycystic ovarian syndrome, uterine fibroids, recurrent pregnancy loss, endometriosis, and irregular or absent periods.

She is an active reviewer for prestigious journals such as Fertility and Sterility and the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics. Additionally, she contributes as an abstract reviewer for the American Society of Reproductive Medicine.

Outside of her professional life, Dr. Ikhena-Abel enjoys spending quality time with her husband and their two rainbow babies. 

Topic: Choosing Change as a Path Toward Wellness

Amy Podolski Chang, MD, FACOG, is an Ob/Gyn Hospitalist at Lowell General Hospital and Resident Site Director for the Tufts Medicine Ob/Gyn Residency. Dr. Chang earned her medical degree from UMass Chan Medical School in 2009 and completed her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at UMass in 2013. Following residency, she spent nearly a decade in private practice at Women's Health of Central Massachusetts and was a community faculty member in the Ob/Gyn Department at UMass. Outside of work, Dr. Chang lives in Shrewsbury, MA with her physician husband and their two wonderfully busy middle schoolers, who keep her on the go with soccer schedules, and family adventures near and far. When she gets a quiet moment, she's likely to be found cooking up something new in the kitchen, knitting, or curled up with a good romantasy novel.

Topic: Stimulant Use in Pregnancy

Elizabeth Allocco, MD, is a generalist obstetrician-gynecologist at UMass Memorial Health, Residency Program Director for the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at UMass Chan Medical School, and Medical Director of the Karen W. Green Clinic for Pregnancy and Recovery. A graduate of Columbia University and Boston University School of Medicine, Dr. Allocco completed her residency training in Obstetrics & Gynecology at UMass Chan Medical School in 2019, where she first developed an interest in caring for pregnant individuals with substance use disorders. She is board certified in both Obstetrics and Gynecology and Addiction Medicine.