As part of its mission to bolster knowledge in the field of women’s health research, the Connors Center hosts educational events, programs and symposia which unite the thought leaders and accomplished researchers of the Brigham and Harvard communities to share their knowledge and expertise.
The Connors Center has been hosting its Women’s Health Luncheon Program annually since 2005 on the Friday before Mother’s Day. Past keynote speakers have included Chelsea Clinton, DPhil, MPH, Christy Turlington Burns, MPH, Mariel Hemingway, Tara Westover, Lesley Stahl and Ann Romney. Learn more about the Luncheon here.
The 2025 Luncheon took place in person on May 9, 2025 and featured a keynote conversation between Arianna Huffington—founder and CEO of Thrive Global, founder of The Huffington Post, and bestselling author—and WBZ-TV’s Lisa Hughes, focusing on how consistent daily habits and artificial intelligence can empower women to live healthier lives. Two Mass General Brigham experts, Elizabeth Ginsburg, MD, and Florian Fintelmann, MD, also presented TEDMED-style presentations about women’s health, including fertility preservation advances for cancer patients and the use of AI to detect lung cancer in women earlier and more accurately.
The 2024 luncheon took place in person on May 10, 2024. More information about the luncheon and its speakers can be found here.
The Annual Connors Center Research Symposium provides an opportunity for the Connors Center to showcase the exciting and important work being carried out to advance the health of women by the Center’s leaders, fellows, and seed funding awardees.
The 7th Annual Connors Center Research Symposium was held in the Zinner Breakout Room at Brigham and Women’s Hospital on Wednesday, October 30, 2024. It was held in conjunction with the Brigham/Harvard Reproductive Outcomes of Stress & Aging (ROSA) Center, an NIH Specialized Center of Research Excellence on Sex Differences. Over 300 registered from the MGB system, Connors Center network, Greater Boston community, and beyond. Participants gathered in-person and virtually to celebrate the important work being done by Connors Center investigators. Speakers included the keynote, Vivian Ota Wang, PhD, FACMG, CGC, Deputy Director of the National Institutes of Health Office of Research in Women’s Health (NIH ORWH), as well as recipients of Connors Centers grant awards and fellowships, ROSA Center associate scientists, and a Mass Life Sciences Center First Look awardee. Read more and watch a recording here.
As part of the Women’s Health Interdisciplinary Stress Program of Research (WHISPR), the Connors Center hosts an annual scientific symposium for the BWH academic community on the topic of how physiologic and psychological stress affect women’s health and disease. Each WHISPR symposium includes a keynote speaker followed by short, pitch presentations from finalists who have applied for one-year pilot research awards on the topic of stress and women’s health.
The Mary Horrigan Connors Center for Women’s Health Research hosted the 8th Annual Women’s Health Interdisciplinary Stress Program of Research (WHISPR) Symposium and Awardee Presentation in the Marshall Wolf Conference Center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2025. It was held in conjunction with the Brigham/Harvard Reproductive Outcomes of Stress & Aging (ROSA) Center, an NIH Specialized Center of Research Excellence (SCORE) on Sex Differences. Over 100 individuals registered to attend in person and virtually from the Connors Center, the MGB system, the greater Boston community, and beyond. Alfonso Abizaid, PhD, delivered the keynote address entitled “Bridging the Gap: the Metabolic Stress Response to Social Stress in Females.” Dr. Abizaid is a full tenured Professor of Neuroscience at Carelton University in Ottawa, Canada. Dr. Abizaid’s research is focused on the role of ghrelin in the regulation of energy balance in response to environmental challenges that include stress, the costs of reproduction, and the impact of aging in male and female mammals including humans.
Victor Navarro, PhD provided brief remarks on “Neuronal Mechanisms Mediating Vasomotor Symptoms: From Mice to Humans.” Following these talks, the 2025 WHISPR Awardee, Dr. Poganik, was introduced and provided an overview of his awarded project. Jesse Poganik, PhD is an Investigator in the Division of Genetics at the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is also an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Poganik presented “Leveraging Proteomic Models of Biological Age to Improve Pregnancy Outcomes.” . More information about the Awardees can be found here and a full recap and recording of the Symposium can be found here.
