Welcome Dr. Liisa Galea
We would like to welcome Dr. Liisa Galea (Full Professor, Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Toronto) to the CPIN Program.
Dr. Galea is the Treliving Chair in Women’s Mental Health at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and a Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmacology and Toxicology at University of Toronto. She comes to Toronto, after 25 years as a Professor at University of British Columbia. She leads the Women’s Health Research Cluster (>500 members worldwide) and is a passionate advocate for research on women’s brain health. 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. Dr. Galea has won numerous awards including the NSERC Discovery Accelerator. She has given >60 international talks, including the Mortyn Jones Lecture (International Congress of Neuroendocrinology). She is a Fellow at International Behavioral Neuroscience Society (IBNS). She has over 195 papers, is highly cited (>20000 citations), is the Principal Editor of Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology (IF=7.4), the President of Organization for the Study of Sex Differences and co-Vice-President of Canadian Organisation for Sex and Gender Research. She serves/served on advisory and editorial boards (e.g. Hormones and Behavior, Endocrinology, Psychoneuroendocrinology, Neuroendocrinology), and peer review panels (NIH, Wellcome Trust, CIHR, NSERC).
The Research: 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.
