Needed Experts

Perinatal Mental Health and Nutritional Support with Dr. Melissa Drake, MD, FACOG

Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) impact one in five women, yet most won't be screened until their six-week visit, if at all. They can arise at any point from conception through one year postpartum, and affect partners too. Dr. Melissa Drake, MD, FACOG, brings both clinical precision and genuine compassion to a topic that deserves far more attention in conventional care. She walks through the full spectrum of perinatal mental health, including the difference between baby blues and intrusive thoughts and more clinical mental health conditions. Dr. Drake offers practitioners and listeners the clarity to know what's normal, what warrants monitoring, and what requires same-day intervention. She also covers why nutrition matters for mental health, how to assess for gaps, and how to realistically support women in optimizing their nutrition throughout the perinatal journey. Healthcare practitioners can earn continuing education credits for listening. Visit NeededExperts.com [https://neededexperts.com/] for more information.

Perinatal Nutrition: Improving Outcomes for Mothers & Babies with Dr. Leslie Stone, MD, IFMCP

Dr. Leslie Stone, MD, IFMCP, an OB-GYN with more than 5,000 deliveries, discusses the landmark research showing how trimester-by-trimester nutritional exposures shape a child's health and lifelong risk of chronic disease. She explains key nutrient deficiencies and lifestyle factors that influence pregnancy outcomes and makes the case for personalized, collaborative care starting before conception. She shares insights into her GrowBaby model, demonstrating over a decade of improved pregnancy and birth outcomes in a Medicaid setting. If you believe nutrition matters in pregnancy but haven't had the clinical framework to act on it, this is a conversation you need to hear. Healthcare practitioners can earn continuing education credits for listening. Visit NeededExperts.com [https://NeededExperts.com] for more information

The Lifelong Benefits of Choline During Pregnancy with Dr. Lucia Aronica, PhD

What if the nutrients a mother consumes during pregnancy could program her child's stress response, cognitive potential, and mental health resilience before that child is even born? That's not a hypothesis. It's the emerging science of epigenetics. Dr. Lucia Aronica, PhD, lecturer in epigenetics and nutrigenomics at Stanford University, makes the case for why choline may be the most underappreciated nutrient in perinatal care and what practitioners can do about it. She shares what practitioners need to know: the four critical roles choline plays in every cell in the body, why the optimal pregnancy dose may be higher than the current AI, how the PEMT gene variant shapes individual requirements, the specific foods and supplement forms that actually move the needle, and how choline and folate are complementary partners. Healthcare practitioners can earn continuing education credits for listening. Visit NeededExperts.com [https://NeededExperts.com] for more information.

Nutrition & Lifestyle Considerations for Endometriosis and Uterine Fibroids with Dr. Roxanne Pero, MD, FACOG, DIPABLM

Endometriosis takes an average of seven to ten years to diagnose. Fibroids affect up to 70% of women. And yet both conditions remain vastly under-addressed in clinical practice. Dr. Roxanne Pero hopes to change that trajectory. She shares the pathophysiology, shared risk factors, and the integrative treatment framework she uses at her Dallas practice to help women get real answers. From diet to stress, sleep, environmental exposures, and when surgery is non-negotiable, this episode is packed with clinical pearls for practitioners and patients alike. Healthcare practitioners can earn continuing education credits for listening. Visit NeededExperts.com [https://www.neededexperts.com] for details.

Nutritional Foundations for Fertility, Egg Freezing, and IVF with Dr. Leah Gordon, ND

Preconception health can play a powerful role in fertility outcomes—whether couples are trying to conceive naturally or pursuing assisted reproductive technologies. In this episode, Dr. Leah Gordon, ND, shares what every practitioner needs to know about preconception health: how nutrition shapes egg and sperm quality months before conception, often overlooked lifestyle components, what's missing from the standard IVF workup, and why fertility loves mind-body nourishment. She also shares clinical insights for supporting patients through IVF, IUI, and egg freezing. Healthcare practitioners can earn continuing education credits for listening. Visit NeededExperts.com [https://www.NeededExperts.com] for more information.