Hot Flashes, Brain Fog and the Blues: Frontiers in Menopause Treatments

Over the past few decades, women’s health has become a greater focus of both academic and pharmaceutical industry research and treatment development. However, treatment options for women going through menopause and post-menopause remain limited. As we understand more about the effects of hormonal changes on women’s physical and mental health throughout their life cycle, a picture emerges highlighting opportunities for research and treatment innovation.

Half of the world’s population spends 40% of our lifetime in menopause. Despite the ubiquity of this state, there is a dearth of understanding on how to treat the multiple conditions that arise in the perimenopausal and menopausal stages of a woman’s life. Vasomotor symptoms, vaginal atrophy, sexual dysfunction, depression and cognitive changes are very common to the perimenopausal and postmenopausal periods, which also coincide with when many women are ascending into leadership positions. Coupled with the increasingly more common pathologies of breast cancer, deep vein thromboses and obesity, there is a greater need to explore non-hormonal therapies to combat these conditions.

In this webinar, the experts will discuss the conditions that arise during perimenopause and menopause, the current landscape of available therapies and the challenges involved supporting menopause-related clinical trials.

Webinar attendees will learn:

• The different conditions that are associated with menopause:
  • Vasomotor symptoms
  • Vaginal atrophy
  • Depression
  • Cognitive changes
• The menopause treatments that are available:
  • Hormone therapy
  • Non-hormonal therapy
  • Antidepressants

Speakers

Monica Lee, MD, Medical Director, Medical Affairs, ICON Plc

Dr. Lee is a board-certified Obstetrician Gynecologist with over 13 years of clinical experience and is a North American Menopause Society Certified Menopause Practitioner. She graduated from Stanford University with honors and went on to obtain her MD at University of California San Francisco. Subsequently, she finished her residency training in obstetrics and gynecology at University of California Los Angeles. She enjoys teaching and has been involved with Cedars Sinai, UCLA and USC residency training as well as Stanford Bioengineering student mentorship. She subsequently has had experience as a Phase 2-4 clinical trial investigator, consultant for pharmaceutical protocol development on the sponsor side, Medical Director at a digital health startup and advisor to a venture capital firm. She joined ICON as a Medical Director of Women’s Health in 2021 and has contributed to studies as both a medical monitor and as a therapeutic expert.

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Louisa Steinberg, MD, PhD, Medical Director, Medical Affairs, ICON Plc

Dr. Steinberg is a board-certified Psychiatrist with 20 years of CNS research experience. She graduated from the Medical Scientist Training Program at Albert Einstein College of Medicine with a PhD in neuroscience and subsequently went on to do her residency training in psychiatry at Columbia University. After completing a clinical research fellowship focusing on mood disorders at Columbia, Dr. Steinberg became Assistant Professor in Psychiatry at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and the Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research. She joined ICON as a Medical Director in the CNS group in 2021 and has contributed to studies as both a medical monitor and as a therapeutic expert. Dr. Steinberg has a long-standing interest in women’s health, particularly how hormonal changes throughout the life cycle affect neurobiology and mental health.

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