Pregnancy and Antidepressants

According to the CDC, almost 10% of American women of child bearing age are on SSRIs - Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors - a class of antidepressants that include such medications as Lexapro, Prozac and Zoloft. But are they safe to take during pregnancy?

Tracy Beth Høeg, MD, PhD and Senior Advisor for Clinical Sciences in the Office of the FDA Commissioner, joins the show to talk about what the science says and what it doesn't say.

Prior to joining the FDA in March of 2025, Dr. Høeg worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management and was a practicing Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation physician specializing in interventional spine and sports medicine. She is a Danish American dual citizen and completed her MD at the Medical College of Wisconsin, PhD in Public Health and Epidemiology at the University of Copenhagen and Residency at University of California-Davis.