Joanna Maselko: using the power of science to change lives

Abstract

“I was always interested in science. And I knew I wanted to make the world better somehow. I thought about medicine, but I fainted at the sight of blood so that wasn't an option. So I left high school, liking science, liking nature, wanting to help people, but not knowing how I was going to do that: at that age, I had no clear career path.” With good intentions and enough self-awareness, Joanna Maselko, now Associate Professor of Epidemiology (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, USA), settled on biology at the University of Alaska Anchorage (AK, USA). After graduating, she spent a few “amazing” years as a National Park Ranger in Alaska and thought about studying ecology, but after moving to San Francisco, CA, she was introduced to epidemiology. Maselko found this subject “similar to ecology, but social”, which ticked all the right boxes—maths, systems, health, and people—“and knew this is what [she] wanted to do”. Effect of an early perinatal depression intervention on long-term child development outcomes: follow-up of the Thinking Healthy Programme randomised controlled trialOur findings show that cognitive, socioemotional, and physical developmental outcomes of children at age 7 years whose mother had prenatal depression did not differ between those who received the Thinking Healthy Programme intervention and those who received the control. Further investigation is needed to understand what types of complex interventions or approaches are needed for long-term gains in maternal and child wellbeing. Prolonged, detailed, and frequent follow-up is warranted for all interventions. Full-Text PDF Effectiveness of a peer-delivered, psychosocial intervention on maternal depression and child development at 3 years postnatal: a cluster randomised trial in PakistanReduced symptom severity and high remission rates were seen across both the intervention and enhanced usual care groups, possibly masking any effects of the intervention. A multi-year, psychosocial intervention can be task-shifted via peers but might be susceptible to reductions in fidelity and dosage over time (which were not among the outcomes of this trial). Early intervention efforts might need to rely on multiple models (eg, collaborative care), be of greater intensity, and potentially targeted at mothers who are at high risk for depression to reduce the intergenerational transmission of psychopathology from mothers to children. Full-Text PDF