Rate My Professor Megan Galbally

Professor Megan Galbally is a Professor in Psychiatry at Monash Health, Monash University, and serves as Director of the Centre for Women's and Children's Mental Health within the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health. She earned a Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery and a Masters of Psychological Medicine from Monash University, a PhD from the University of Melbourne, and holds Fellowship of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (FRANZCP). In her leadership roles, she is the National Chair of the Section for Perinatal and Infant Psychiatry and Chair of the Gender Equity Working Group at RANZCP. Previously, she was WA Branch Chair at RANZCP, held office bearer and committee positions including President and Treasurer of the Australasian Marce Society and elected Board Member of the International Marce Society, Head of Service at Mercy Hospital for Women in Victoria, and Medical Co-Director for Women's Health, Genetics and Mental Health at King Edward Memorial Hospital in Western Australia. She maintains honorary positions in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Melbourne and the University of Western Australia, and as Adjunct Professor at Murdoch University. Additionally, she is Program Director for Mental Health at Monash Health.

Professor Galbally's research centers on the relationship between maternal mental health and child mental health and developmental outcomes, encompassing early women's mental health, the effects of childhood trauma and domestic violence, parenting practices such as breastfeeding, infant and maternal sleep patterns, and parent-child relationships, as well as antenatal care models for women with eating disorders, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. She developed and leads key longitudinal studies including the Victorian Psychotropic Registry and the Mercy Pregnancy and Emotional Wellbeing Study, a pregnancy cohort examining antidepressant medication exposure effects on offspring. Her contributions include lead editorship of the book Psychopharmacology and Pregnancy: Treatment Efficacy, Risks and Guidelines (Springer, 2014), and peer-reviewed publications such as 'Assisted reproduction and perinatal emotional wellbeing: Findings from a longitudinal study' (Psychological Medicine, 2024), 'Sex Differences Between Female and Male Individuals in Antipsychotic Efficacy and Adverse Effects in the Treatment of Schizophrenia' (CNS Drugs, 2024), 'The role of lack of grandparental support in perinatal depression' (Journal of Affective Disorders, 2024), and 'Maternal attachment state of mind and perinatal emotional wellbeing: Findings from a pregnancy cohort study' (Journal of Affective Disorders, 2023). She has received national and international invitations to speak, serves as an expert advisor on clinical guidelines, and contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals 3 (Good Health and Well-being) and 5 (Gender Equality). Professor Galbally supervises PhD students and leads projects on personalized prediction of premature ovarian insufficiency, cervical cancer screening in women with severe mental illness, paternal mental health impacts on child anxiety, and perinatal depression in culturally diverse populations.