Mind the Gap: Hormonal Contraceptives and Brain Health—Session 1: Keynote Talk with Dr. Elizabeth Hampson

Lead of Women’s Health Research Cluster, Professor in Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia, Scientific Advisor at the Women’s Health Research Institute.

Bios

Talk Title: An Introduction to Oral Contraceptives and Their Potential Effects in the Central Nervous System 

Talk Abstract: Oral contraceptives (OCs) potentially have effects in the central nervous system (CNS), but historically such effects have been understudied. In the last decade increasing numbers of studies have begun to investigate CNS variables. These include possible effects of OCs on mood, cognitive processes, motor function, perception, and other types of psychological or behavioral processes. Many beginning-level researchers, however, possess an unsophisticated understanding of OCs and how they work. Misconceptions have limited the ability to advance knowledge of OC effects in the CNS, and are a frustrating obstacle to publication for new researchers. This talk will introduce the audience to some of the basic fundamentals of OC administration and OC pharmacology that are relevant to brain-related studies, and will outline a few common misconceptions about OCs that have hindered progress in the field. We will also discuss data related to OCs and mood and/or spatial cognition, using datasets from our own laboratory as illustrations. Providing a few methodological signposts for new researchers can facilitate and promote a better-informed scientific community over the next few years.

Bio: Dr. Elizabeth Hampson is a professor in the Department of Psychology at Western University, a member of Western’s Graduate Program in Neuroscience, and a member of the Brain and Mind Institute. She holds a cross-appointment in the Department of Psychiatry at the Schulich School of Medicine. Her work on reproductive hormones in the human nervous system and their implications for cognitive function, memory, aging, and mood has been internationally recognized for more than two decades. Dr. Hampson has received the Curt P. Richter Prize for advances in neuroendocrinology, and has been supported by a Chair in Women’s Health from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. She serves on the editorial boards of a number of peer-reviewed scientific journals, and is a member of the advisory board of the Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology. As an invited member of a Washington-based expert panel, the Isis Fund Network on “Sex, Gender, Drugs and the Brain”, and as an independent researcher, Dr. Hampson’s work has helped to highlight the importance of sex as a biological variable in medical research. She is also a founding member of the Organization for the Study of Sex Differences.