Rachel McCardel, a PhD candidate in the Department of Health Promotion and Behavior, will defend her doctoral dissertation – “Experiences with returning to work, breastfeeding, and perinatal mental health among first-time mothers in Georgia: A mixed methods study” – on Tuesday, March 28 at 11:00 am in Room 217 in Russell Hall on Health Sciences Campus.

Rachel earned her B.S. in Health Promotion and Behavior (2018) and M.P.H. in Health Promotion and Behavior (2020) from the University of Georgia. As a PhD student, her research has focused on understanding working mothers’ access to workplace breastfeeding resources and examining the relationships between women’s return to work after giving birth and perinatal mental health. Her research incorporates mixed method approaches to understand working mothers’ experiences with returning to work after giving birth, breastfeeding, and perinatal mental health.

Advisory Committee Members:
Heather Padilla, Ph.D (Major Professor)
Tamora Callands, Ph.D
Janani Rajbhandari-Thapa, Ph.D
Andrea Swartzendruber, Ph.D

Everyone is welcome to attend!