The Brain on Stress: A Pandemic of Depression, Diabetes and Dementia
Thursday, November 19, 2020
9:00 – 10:00 AM | WEBINAR
HOST
Holly S. Andersen, M.D.
Attending Cardiologist
Associate Professor, Clinical Medicine
New York-Presbyterian, Weill Cornell Medical Center
Trustee and Women & Science Committee Member
The Rockefeller University
SPEAKER
Natalie L. Rasgon, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Director, Center for Neuroscience in Women’s Health
Stanford University School of Medicine
Visiting Professor, Rockefeller University
Dementia, depression, and diabetes are defined as distinct diseases, but science is challenging this conventional view. The latest research has linked all three to insulin resistance—a chronic poor response to the hormone insulin that raises blood sugar levels, affecting the brain as well as the body. Natalie L. Rasgon, M.D., Ph.D., is a leader in exploring the role of insulin resistance in the trio of illnesses she calls the 3Ds. A physician-scientist at Stanford University who focuses on women’s mental health, Dr. Rasgon has conducted research on hormonal interventions during menopause as a treatment for mood disorders and studied the connections between insulin resistance and cognitive aging. As a visiting professor at Rockefeller, she collaborated with the late Dr. Bruce McEwen to understand the molecular basis of depression, opening new possibilities for diagnosis and treatment.
Dr. Rasgon is a Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She is the founder and director of the Stanford Center for Neuroscience in Women’s Health, and the co-founder of the Psychopathology and Allostatic load across the Life Span (PALS) Network. Dr. Rasgon is a member of the board of directors of the National Network of Depression Center and, in 2015, was awarded the 2015 American Medical Women’s Association’s Lila Wallis Award for her contribution to women’s health.