Dr. Pearson is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and a Staff Psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital.  She is a member of MGH Center for Women’s Health and Perinatal Reproductive Psychiatry Program, as well as the MGH Eating Disorders Clinical and Research Program (http://www.massgeneral.org/psychiatry/doctors/doctor.aspx?id=17832).  Dr. Pearson also is affiliated with McLean Hospital, where she previously served as the Director of the Outpatient Eating Disorders Program.

Dr. Kimberly Pearson is a recognized specialist in women’s health and psychiatry, with a particular emphasis on perinatal psychiatry and eating disorders.  Some specific areas of expertise include medication exposure during pregnancy and breastfeeding, postpartum depression, menopause, PMS, bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder.  Dr. Pearson also treats mood and anxiety disorders, including major depression, bipolar disorder, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

Dr. Pearson has varied academic, clinical and teaching interests.  For example, she has participated in various academic and hospital-based clinical research studies in the areas of eating disorders, perinatal psychiatry and women’s health in psychiatry, including an ongoing longitudinal study of mood and anxiety disorders during pregnancy and the peurperum, the use of Wellbutrin® in treating postpartum depression, and perinatal outcome after antidepressant exposure during pregnancy.

Dr. Pearson’s clinical research has been published in peer reviewed medical journals, including the International Journal of Neuropsychomarmacology, Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, and Diabetes Care.  In addition to her peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Pearson was also the lead editor of “Women’s Health and Psychiatry,” (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2002), a 375-page book that addresses a wide range of clinically relevant issues in the psychiatric evaluation and treatment of women.

Dr. Pearson is routinely invited to review psychiatric books and articles, including for the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, Current Psychiatry, and the British Journal of Psychology.  She also is routinely invited to give lectures at academic centers and in communities around the country on issues related to eating disorders and psychiatric disorders associated with female reproductive function.

Dr. Pearson graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with B.A. in Psychobiology from DePauw University.  She received her M.D. from Northwestern University Medical School, and completed her residency in psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital.   After completing her residency, Dr. Pearson also completed fellowships in: (i) Perinatal/Reproductive Psychiatry at the Perinatal and Reproductive Psychiatry Clinical Research Program at MGH; and (ii) Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute.

Dr. Pearson also sees patients in her private practice in Belmont, MA.  Please consult www.kimberlypearsonmd.com for more information.