When Baby Arrives: Expectations, Reality & Worries with Vesna Pirec, MD, PhD, of Eating Recovery Center / Pathlight Mood & Anxiety Center | A #MentalHealthMonday Recovery Education Session
Monday, July 28, 2025 @ 11 AM PT
In this session of #MentalHealthMonday, we are joined by Dr. Vesna Pirec of Eating Recovery Center / Pathlight Mood & Anxiety Center. She will present on the mental health difficulties and disorders commonly experienced by women in the postpartum period and will discuss evidence-based and emerging treatment approaches that are currently available.
Although public health education campaigns have improved our understanding of perinatal mental illness in recent years, they are often missing adequate follow-up. The postpartum period for women is often publicly presented as a joyful and positive experience, but unfortunately, both the general public and medical professionals remain unfamiliar with manifestations of perinatal distress other than, to some degree, depression.
During this dialogue, Dr. Pirec will:
➡️ Review the scope of mental health disorders frequently experienced in postpartum women
➡️ Identify how women who may be struggling with a perinatal mood or anxiety can adequately seek help from their support system, as well as from health care providers
➡️ Briefly discuss effective, evidence-based pharmacological and psychological treatments for PMADs (Postpartum Mood and Anxiety Disorders)
Join us LIVE for a Q & A session following the presentation.
About Vesna Pirec, MD, PhD
Dr. Vesna Pirec is the founder of Pirec Psychiatric Services, an outpatient psychiatric clinic, predominantly treating women during various phases of their reproductive cycle. Additionally, she provides consultation at Eating Recovery Center (ERC) / Pathlight Mood & Anxiety Center (Pathlight) and is an academic liaison for ERC/Pathlight with a couple of psychiatry residency programs in the Chicago area.
Vesna has been a psychiatrist in Chicago for over twenty years. After completing medical school at the University of Belgrade (in the former Yugoslavia), Dr. Pirec obtained her PhD at the Department of Neuropharmacology at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), and then completed her residency training at the Psychiatry Department at UIC.
Prior to leading Pirec Psychiatry Services, she was the CEM for Mood & Anxiety programs at Pathlight throughout the country. Dr. Pirec initially joined ERC/Pathlight (former Insight) in 2012 as a medical director and helped build the program and define the psychiatrist’s role within the multilevel team approach to treatment.
Before joining ERC / Pathlight, Vesna was the Director of the Women’s Mental Health Program at UIC. She holds academic affiliations with UIC and Rush University Medical School and continues to develop educational programs and participate in the training of psychiatry residents and fellows. Throughout her career, Dr. Pirec has treated patients with various complex psychiatric disorders and different acuities at all levels of care. Her area of expertise is treating women through all reproductive stages, addressing their neuroendocrine and hormonal health, along with providing psychopharmacological and therapeutic needs. Furthermore, she incorporates integrative principles in her psychiatric treatment approach.
Dr. Pirec has published several papers (and book chapters) related to women’s mental health, serves as an editor for several professional journals, and presents at various national and international conferences. She speaks a couple of languages, enjoys traveling, reading, and is an avid art appreciator.
