Dr. Joffe is the Director of Research in the Perinatal and Reproductive Psychiatry Clinical Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University, her medical degree from Cornell University Medical College, and her Masters Degree in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. She completed her psychiatry residency training at McLean Hospital and a fellowship in Reproductive Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Joffe is an experienced clinician and researcher in women’s mental health. Her work focuses on the biologic mechanisms involved in menopausal symptoms of hot flashes, depression, sleep disturbance, and cognitive difficulties. She also studies the impact of hormones on mood in women with premenstrual mood disturbance and the reproductive consequences of psychotropic medications.

In ongoing work, Dr. Joffe examines the impact of hot flashes on sleep and well-being in women with and without mood disturbance and the mechanisms involved in the etiology of hot flashes. Dr. Joffe also conducts studies that focus on the hormonal and central nervous system mechanisms that are responsible for the development of hot flashes related to menopause and breast-cancer therapies. In other work, Dr. Joffe has examined the role of hormonal contraceptives on premenstrual depression and determined the impact of valproate on reproductive function and the polycystic ovarian syndrome in women.

Dr. Joffe’s work is sponsored by an NIMH K23 Mentored Patient-Oriented Career Development Award focused on the physiology of estrogen’s effects on mood disturbance and a Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Award to optimize well-being in breast cancer patients with hot flashes. She is also the recipient of an MGH Claflin Distinguished Scholar Award and a Harvard Medical School Center of Excellence in Women’s Health Fund Award.

Dr. Joffe serves an ad hoc member of the NIH Adult Psychopathology and Disorders of Aging SRG and the Co-Chair of the Harvard Medical School Center of Excellence in Women’s Health Research Subcommittee. She has published and spoken widely on her innovative investigations of biological components of women’s mental health. In her clinical work at Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Joffe takes care of women with mood and anxiety difficulties occurring during the menopause transition, the premenstrual phase, pregnancy, and postpartum, and women who have hot flashes related to menopause and breast-cancer anti-estrogen therapies.