On November 4 and 5, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) brought together an international community for the sold-out 2026 womenmind™ conference in Toronto. Under the theme Women’s Mental Health Across the Lifespan: From Research to Action, researchers, clinicians, trainees, advocates, funders, industry partners, and people with lived experience gathered to explore how research helps inform more effective and equitable care.
Building on the inaugural conference in 2024, the gathering explored how collaboration can help close gaps in knowledge and care for women, girls, and gender-diverse people.
Welcoming participants in person and online, conference host Dr. Liisa Galea, CAMH Senior Scientist, Treliving Family Chair in Women’s Mental Health and Scientific Lead for womenmind, shared that the conference featured 42 speakers from 11 countries. Together, they explored how biological and social experiences shape mental health from puberty through menopause and how to turn that understanding into action.
Dr. Galea also highlighted the community behind this work. Supported by more than 110 donors, womenmind has funded 25 projects through seed grants and postdoctoral fellowships and recruited four researchers. She reported that womenmind-funded researchers had published more than 185 peer-reviewed papers and secured over $34.2 million in new research funding for the mental health of women, girls, and gender-diverse people.
“Understanding and prioritizing women’s mental health research is pivotal for fostering a healthier and more equitable society,” said Dr. Galea.
In her opening remarks, Sarah Downey, President and CEO of CAMH, emphasized that women’s mental health is shaped by hormonal changes as well as poverty, violence, trauma, and caregiving responsibilities. She highlighted the need for research that reflects women’s lives and for effective treatments to reach those who need them, and acknowledged Sandi Treliving and her family for helping build the womenmind community.
“My hope is that you leave this conference with a new connection, a new idea or a new opportunity to work together,” said Downey. “Each can be the beginning of something that changes care.”
The two-day programme explored the connections between the menstrual cycle and mood, mental health during pregnancy and after childbirth, menopause, and brain aging. Other sessions examined hormonal contraceptives, stress and addiction, and how sex and gender influence mental health. Together, these topics underscored the need for research and care that reflect people’s changing needs across their lives.
CAMH expertise was featured throughout the program, including an update from Dr. Daisy Singla on the SUMMIT Trial and its work to expand access to maternal mental health treatment, research from Dr. Rand Eid on perinatal depression, and a presentation by Dr. June Lam on reimagining mental health systems for women and gender-diverse people.
Downey pointed to Dr. Singla’s work on psychotherapy delivered virtually and by trained nurses and midwives as an example of how research can help close gaps in access. The update connected the conference’s scientific focus with the practical challenge of reaching more people during pregnancy and after childbirth.
The Making Sense of Menopause symposium brought attention to changes that can affect daily life. Dr. Neill Epperson’s presentation, Can I Buy a Noun? How to Treat Cognitive Concerns During Peri- and Post-Menopause, focused on addressing cognitive concerns during this transition.
Looking further across the lifespan, Dr. Jennifer Rabin’s presentation, Does Timing Matter? Earlier Menopause and Dementia Risk, examined the relationship between earlier menopause and later brain health. Her talk formed part of a symposium on risk and resilience in women’s brain aging, alongside presentations on the microbiome–gut–brain connection, and changes in the immune system at menopause. These topics illustrated how research across disciplines can deepen understanding of women’s brain health over time.
Poster presentations (of which there were >140 from across the world), young investigator talks and a trainee–mentor roundtable created additional opportunities to share emerging research and connect across disciplines and career stages. Panels on policy and mobilizing women’s health research broadened the conversation to the partnerships, advocacy, and investment needed to turn evidence into action.
Advancing women’s mental health is central to CAMH’s work to improve care and make it more equitable. When women’s experiences are missing from research, opportunities to understand symptoms, identify risks, and offer effective treatment can be missed. Supporting research that reflects those experiences helps CAMH build the evidence needed for more personalized care, recognize opportunities to intervene earlier, and better support patients, families, and communities.
In opening the conference, Dr. Galea suggested turning the Us of understudied, underfunded, and undervalued nature of women’s health to Rs – reframe and redesign research to revolutionise women’s health care. Closing the conference, Dr. Galea urged participants to carry this shared purpose forward: “This conversation must continue beyond these walls.” and borrowed from Dr. Beatrice Beck Schimmer from the University of Zurich “when we are fragmented we are fragile” – we are always stronger together – when we can speak with one voice, we can make a difference in moving the needle forward for women’s mental health.
Help move this work forward. Join or contribute to the womenmind community to support research, mentorship and opportunities for women in science—and help close the gender gap in mental health at CAMH and beyond.
