Anniette (Annie) Maldonado, PhD, BCBA, PMH-C's, research focuses on improving equitable access to perinatal mental health care for historically underserved families, with particular attention to Latine communities, immigrant families, neurodivergent parents and families navigating high-risk pregnancies, NICU/CICU admissions, complex fetal diagnoses and perinatal loss. She is especially interested in understanding how language access, cultural responsiveness, neurodiversity and systemic barriers influence engagement in psychological care across pregnancy, postpartum and early parenthood. Dr. Annie's work aims to develop and adapt evidence-based interventions that are both clinically effective and meaningfully responsive to the lived experiences of families who are often excluded from traditional models of care. This includes culturally adapting interventions for Spanish-speaking perinatal patients, integrating bilingual and bicultural approaches and examining how executive functioning differences, sensory sensitivities and autistic and ADHD traits shape the transition to parenthood. Dr. Annie is also interested in supporting families facing medically complex pregnancies, including those preparing for a child with congenital differences, receiving a life-limiting fetal diagnosis or making decisions around termination for medical reasons and perinatal palliative care. Across these areas, she values interdisciplinary collaboration with medical teams, social workers, occupational therapists and community partners to improve family-centered care delivery within hospital and outpatient settings. Ultimately, her goal is to build accessible, inclusive and culturally responsive models of perinatal psychological care that reduce disparities, strengthen caregiver adjustment and promote belonging for families across diverse identities and experiences. Through both clinical innovation and implementation-focused research, Dr. Annie hope to contribute to systems of care where all parents feel seen, supported and able to thrive.
