Game of Hormones: Why Sex Matters for Brain Health
Speaker
Liisa Galea, PhD
Treliving Family Chair in Women’s Mental Health
Senior Scientist, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Professor of Psychiatry, University of Toronto
Title
Game of Hormones: Why Sex Matters for Brain Health
Speaker Biography
Liisa Galea is the inaugural Treliving Chair in Women’s Mental Health and Senior Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, Ontario. She was formerly a Professor at University of British Columbia for 25 years. She leads the Women’s Health Research Cluster (>400 members worldwide). Dr. Galea is a world-renowned expert in sex hormone influences on brain and behaviour in both health and disease states, with a focus on dementia and stress-related psychiatric disorders.
Abstract
Although sex differences exist in many brain diseases, research targeting sex as a factor in brain health has been scarce. Dr. Galea’s research is vital in filling this knowledge gap, specifically in understanding how sex and hormones influence neuroplasticity in females as too often women’s health is ignored in research. This preclinical work is essential for developing tailored treatments for brain disease in both women and men. Her research examines the effects of hormones, stress and reproductive experience on neuroplasticity, including adult neurogenesis (the birth of new brain cells in the adult), and subsequent behaviour. An understanding of how neurogenesis is regulated may provide clues for devising new therapeutic treatments for diseases that involve neuronal loss and show greater prevalence in women, such as Alzheimer’s disease and depression. She developed the first rodent models for perinatal depression more than 20 years ago, and her research continues to reveal novel insight into the mechanisms by which pregnancy and motherhood impact risk for psychiatric disorders in the short term and the trajectory of cognitive ageing in the long term. Dr. Galea is also tireless advocate for women’s health research and for sex and gender-based analyses towards improved health for all people.
