Education & Training
- Ph.D.: Uppsala University, 2023
- M.D.: Drexel University, 2007
Major Awards
- The Eleanor S. Rubinow Service Award for Outstanding Dedication to The Care of Children or Women with Mental Illness, UNC Department of Psychiatry, 2018
- NARSAD Young Investigator Award, Invited presenter at their annual symposium, Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, 2016
Areas of Clinical Interest
Prior to joining Washington University, she was faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During her ten years at UNC, she was medical director for a psychiatric inpatient unit for pregnant and postpartum individuals, helped found and was medical director of a statewide perinatal mental health consultation service, and had an outpatient psychiatry practice specialized in working with individuals with high-risk pregnancies. She also has expertise in perinatal OCD and in mood disorders related to reproductive hormonal changes.
Research Interests
Dr. Kimmel’s research focuses on identifying biomarkers that can be utilized to direct treatments and in testing novel treatments that emerge from knowledge gained from research of the microbiome, the gut-brain axis, and reproductive psychiatry.
Recent Publications
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Onset and exacerbation of obsessive–compulsive disorder in the perinatal period
Samuels, J., Kimmel, M., Krasnow, J., Musci, R., Nestadt, P. S., Osborne, L. M., Storch, E. A., Abramowitz, J. S. & Nestadt, G., Feb 2026, In: Archives of Women’s Mental Health. 29, 1, 19.
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Associations between prenatal inflammation and dimensions of depressive symptoms across the perinatal period
Redic, M. M., Miller, J. P., Kimmel, M., Luby, J., Smyser, T., Rogers, C. E., Warner, B. B., Smyser, C. D., Barch, D. M., Miller, G. E. & Chen, E., Dec 2025, In: Psychoneuroendocrinology. 182, 107648.
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Open-label study of the efficacy, safety and tolerability of Brexanolone in the treatment of adult women with postpartum psychosis
Patterson, R., Krohn, H., Richardson, E., Pearson, C., Xia, K., Kimmel, M. & Meltzer-Brody, S., Nov 1 2025, In: General Hospital Psychiatry. 97, p. 237-240 4 p.
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Prenatal obsessive beliefs predict postpartum obsessive-compulsive symptoms: a prospective study
Abramowitz, J. S., Hellberg, S. N., Krasnow, J., Friedman, J. B., Myers, N. S., Nestadt, P. S., Ojalehto, H. J., Juel, E. K., Samuels, J., Kimmel, M. E., Osborne, L. M., Storch, E. A., Nestadt, G. & Musci, R. J., Sep 2025, In: Psychiatry Research. 351, 116620.
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Psychometric evaluation of the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale in pregnant women
Rast, C. E., Musci, R., Abramowitz, J. S., Nestadt, G., Nestadt, P., Kimmel, M. C., Dibbs, T., Osborne, L. M., Samuels, J., Krasnow, J. & Storch, E. A., Aug 2025, In: Archives of Women’s Mental Health. 28, 4, p. 919-926 8 p.