Positions

Assistant Professor

Obstetrics & Gynecology
Baylor College of Medicine

Addresses

Pavilion Tower II (Clinic)

6620 Main Street
Suite 1200
Houston77030
United States
Phone: (832) 826-5281
Fax: (832) 825-9367

Education

BA from Yale University

05/1987 - New Haven, Connecticut United States

Philosophy

MD from Baylor College of Medicine

06/1997 - Houston, Texas United States

Medicine

Internship at Baylor College of Medicine

06/1998 - Houston, Texas United States

Obstetrics & Gynecology

Residency at Baylor College of Medicine

06/2003 - Houston, Texas United States

Psychiatry

Certifications

Texas Medical License

#K5559 (08/22/1998 - 11/30/2025)

Texas Medical Board

Psychiatry Board Certification

#55352 (09/15/2015 - 12/31/2025)

American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology

Colorado Medical License

#DR.0045159 (05/01/2021 - 04/30/2025)

Colorado State Medical Board

Professional Interests

• reproductive mental health
• the menopausal transition
• holistic medicine
• genetic testing in psychiatry

Professional Statement

My passion within medicine has always been to provide excellent women’s healthcare. In 1993, when I began medical school, there was no formal recognition of women’s mental health (reproductive psychiatry) as a field. I chose to study obstetrics & gynecology (ob/gyn) and completed two years of residency in ob/gyn. As a Baylor College of Medicine ob/gyn resident, I met a psychiatrist, Dr. Lucy Puryear, who ran a groundbreaking, embedded psychiatry clinic within the obstetrical clinic of the large county hospital in Houston where Baylor residents spend the bulk of their training. I saw the need to address the psychiatric needs of my perinatal patients and transferred to the psychiatry department to train with Dr. Puryear. After completing my psychiatry residency, I joined Dr. Puryear in her private practice and served within the Baylor department of psychiatry as an adjunct professor. In 2006, I moved to Colorado.

In Colorado, I built a successful private practice specializing in reproductive psychiatry, attending national meetings by Postpartum Support International (PSI), the North American Society for Psychosocial Obstetrics and Gynecology (NASPOG) and the Marce Society of North America (MONA) to further my training in reproductive psychiatry. In Colorado, I gained regional recognition as a clinician and educator in maternal mental health, lecturing to clinician groups such as the Colorado section of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), and to women’s mental health trainees through PSI. I served on the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee from 2014 - 2019, co-chairing with a maternal-fetal medicine specialist in 2019. My patients often asked me why there were not more psychiatrists who specialized in reproductive mental health. When my family had an opportunity to return to Houston, I knew I wanted to return to academic medicine to teach the next generation of medical professionals.

In 2019, I joined the faculty of the Baylor College of Medicine Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology’s Division of Reproductive Medicine. At Baylor, I quickly took on leadership roles and was identified as an outstanding educator and clinician. I led the division for over a year during the Covid pandemic at a time when the clinical staff decreased from six to three. During this time, I directed the outpatient clinic, carried a heavy clinical load, led the training programs for medical students, residents and fellows, successfully recruited two new faculty members and our first women’s mental health fellow and established institutional support for an inter-disciplinary specialty clinic addressing the medical and emotional needs of perimenopausal women. In 2022, I established and led a pilot hub of a federally funded perinatal psychiatry access program (the Perinatal Psychiatry Access Network or PeriPAN) that provides mental health referral resources, peer to peer case consultation and educational programs including grand rounds-style lectures and innovative ECHO seminars to Texan clinicians. I have also led the adoption of cutting-edge suicide prevention practices (ZeroSuicide) within my hospital, Texas Children’s Hospital’s Pavilion for Women. I plan to continue in academic medicine for the remainder of my career, focusing on education and contributing to the development of reproductive psychiatry as a specialty within both psychiatry and obstetrics and gynecology.

Selected Publications

• Horst K, Cirino N, Adams K "Menopause and mental health." Curr Opin Obstet Gynecol.. 2025 Apr 1;37(2):102-110. Pubmed PMID: 39970050

Memberships

The Menopause Society

Member

Marcé Society of North America

Postpartum Support International

Languages

French