Dr. Nancy Byatt, DO, MS, MBA

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Get to know Psychiatrist Dr. Nancy Byatt, who serves patients throughout the State of Massachusetts.

Dr. Byatt is a psychiatrist, physician-scientist, and perinatal mental health expert who is focused on improving health care systems to promote maternal mental health. 

In her professional experience, she is the inaugural Medical Director of Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Program for Moms, a statewide program that has impacted state and national policies regarding perinatal mental health and increased access to perinatal mental health care for millions of women.

Likewise, she is the Founding Executive Director of Lifeline for Moms (www.lifeline4moms.org), a center focused on helping the health care community optimize maternal mental health.

In regard to her educational background, Dr. Byatt earned her Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine and a Master of Science in Clinical Investigation from the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at UMass Chan Medical School. She then went on to complete her residency in psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, and her fellowship in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/ Harvard Medical School. She also holds a Master of Business Administration degree from New York Institute of Technology.

Subsequent to her education, Dr. Byatt attained board certification in psychiatry through the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN). As for her academic appointment, Dr. Byatt is a Professor of Psychiatry, OB/GYN, and Population and Quantitative Health Sciences. 

She developed the Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Program (MCPAP) for Moms (www.mcpapformoms.org). MCPAP for Moms is a statewide program that has 1) increased access to mental health care for millions of perinatal individuals 2) become a national model for perinatal mental health care, and 3) impacted state and national policies and funding. In addition, she is the Founding Executive Director of the Lifeline for Families Center and Lifeline for Moms Program (www.lifeline4moms) at UMass Medical School. The Center’s activities include capacity building, consultation, and research. Its research program focuses on designing, implementing, and evaluating scalable interventions that aim to improve parental and child mental health services and outcomes. With over ten years of continuous federal funding for her research, Dr. Byatt’s achievements have led to over 80 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, over 250 presentations and numerous national awards. 

A keen researcher, she has several federal grants that focus on developing and testing scalable interventions for addressing depression in obstetric settings. She frequently serves on national advisory boards and expert work groups focused on improving perinatal mental health.  

Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of psychiatric illness. These include illnesses related to mood, behavior, cognition, and perceptions. Psychiatrists evaluate, diagnose, and treat patients with mood, anxiety, and psychotics disorders, among others. They conduct thorough psychiatric evaluations, develop treatment plans, prescribe medication, and evaluate treatment results.

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