Maria Muzik, M.D., M.Sc.

Associate Professor, University of Michigan Department of Psychiatry and Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Co-Director, Women and Infants Mental Health Program (WIMHP)
Co-Director, Zero to Thrive

Biography

Dr. Muzik has held a faculty appointment at the University of Michigan Department of Psychiatry since 2006. Her expertise is in women’s mental health, focusing on pregnancy and postpartum, and she conducts cutting-edge research, directs patient care services, and oversees educational programming in these areas.

In her clinical role in the Department of Psychiatry, Dr. Muzik co-directs the Women and Infants Mental Health Program and serves as Medical Director of the Perinatal Psychiatry Clinic, a nationally known program serving hundreds of women each year with pregnancy or postpartum related mood difficulties. Within Michigan Medicine, Dr. Muzik leads the integration of perinatal mental health services within obstetrics, family medicine and pediatrics. Across the state of Michigan, she is the lead perinatal consultant to primary care, public health nursing, community mental health and other health systems. She is a member of the Task Force on Developing the National Curriculum in Reproductive Psychiatry.

Dr. Muzik holds a master’s degree in Clinical Research and Statistical Analysis from the University of Michigan School of Public Health. She conducts research focused on the study of stress, trauma and mental illness in the context of childbearing, its influence on parenting and the developing parentinfant relationship, and how to support families in overcoming adversity. She is particularly interested in understanding the links between inherited genes and environmental exposure in shaping a person’s risk and resiliency across the life span.

Dr. Muzik has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and co-edited a book on motherhood in the face of trauma. She directs a number of federally and foundation funded studies focused on interpersonal violence, posttraumatic stress, depression in pregnancy and postpartum and their effects on the developing child, and on interventions to buffer risks and enhance resilience.

Areas of Interest

  • Perinatal Psychiatry: Depression and Anxiety during pregnancy and postpartum
  • Prevention and Therapy of Mother-Infant relationship and attachment disturbances
  • Impact of maternal/family psychiatric illness on early child development
  • Trauma, Stress & Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during childbearing years
  • Neurobiology of Stress, Depression and PTSD
  • Parent-Infant Relationships in Postpartum Depression and Anxiety Disorders; Infant Attachment Disorders
  • Precursors of early infant stress and emotion regulation

Credentials

  • M.D., 1989, University of Vienna
  • M.S., 2009, University of Michigan
  • Psychodynamic Psychotherapy License, Austrian Ministry of Health
  • Residency in Adult Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, University of Vienna, Austria
  • Residency in Adult Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor MI
  • Infant Mental Health Certificate, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
  • Certifications: 2006, Adult Psychiatry

Published Articles or Reviews