Talks in 2026–27

Progress in brain health research is easy to underestimate, until you zoom out. Year to year, the steps can feel small. But over a decade, the change is profound: new discoveries, new treatments, and a fundamental shift in how society understands conditions that affect millions of people. The Evolution of Brain Health traces that longer arc across three talks, each focusing on a single topic to explore how far we've come, what the science tells us today, and where it's taking us next.

For decades, neurodevelopmental conditions were studied and treated in silos. A growing body of research is changing that, looking across diagnoses to uncover shared patterns in biology and behaviour and opening the door to treatments and care that are more precise, more effective, and built for the full spectrum of human neurodiversity. Dr. Evdokia Anagnostou, Program Manager of the Province of Ontario Neurodevelopmental Disorders (POND) Network, will walk us through how that science is evolving. Joining her are POND Patient Advisory Committee members Allison Chang and Mukti Reddy, bringing lived experience into the conversation to explore what this shift means for the people it serves.

For much of recent history, mental health care meant responding to crisis. That is changing. Research is uncovering the biological roots of conditions like depression and anxiety, from inflammation to the gut-brain connection, while society is bringing mental health out of the shadows and into mainstream conversation. The next frontier is prevention: new treatments, digital tools, and holistic lifestyle approaches that can identify risk earlier, intervene sooner, and fundamentally change what care looks like for millions of people.

Decades of brain research defaulted to male subjects, leaving women's brain health underexplored and undertreated. This talk explores how female biology shapes distinct neurological pathways at every life stage, and what a growing body of research is revealing about the brain health implications of pregnancy, perimenopause, menopause, and beyond. Closing that gap is not just a scientific priority. It's the foundation of the equitable care women deserve, in cognitive health as in aging.