Thank you, Mr. Chair, and honourable members.
I've been a professor for over 25 years, first at the University of British Columbia, and now at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and the University of Toronto. I'm also scientific lead of womenmind, which is at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and the lead of the women's health research cluster, which has over 570 members in 29 countries worldwide. Both of these initiatives have common goals dedicated, in part, in closing the gender gap in science by putting the unique needs and experiences of girls and women at the forefront of mental health research.
As a neuroendocrinologist, my research is on how estrogens and stress influence female mental health across the lifespan from a biological perspective. My driving questions have been around why women are more likely to be diagnosed with depression and Alzheimer's disease compared to men. What is it about our brains that make us more susceptible to these disorders?
Indeed, we and others have found numerous molecular signatures in the brain that differ by sex and female-specific experiences, and underscore the vital importance of continuing this work, because one size does not fit all when it comes to mental health interventions.
Beyond understanding sex influence on disease, I have been studying how female-specific experiences, such as pregnancy, menopause and hormonal contraceptives, influence the brain. The time of greatest risk for first-time depression is during postpartum and in perimenopause. However, these female-specific experiences are rarely considered in the literature. How rare is that? We found that only 3% of neuroscience and psychiatry studies have examined women's health questions. Indeed, there were nine times more studies on males compared to females.
I'm a highly cited scientist, top 2% in the world and I have over 200 publications, but it has been very challenging to get the research funding to do work in this area. My experience is not unique. Many of us have had comments on our grants, saying to “add men” or “add males”. This is for grants that centre on pregnancy, placenta or female-specific cancers. We need women's health research; without the research, we can't tell our health care providers where to steer the boat as our research discoveries are our compass and map.
Yet, although attention to the lack of equity in health research is improving, most of it is directed towards sex and gender differences in disease and health. We need to understand that specific research on women's health and female-specific variables across the lifespan is crucial for improved mental health outcomes.
Women's health research has been undervalued, understudied and underfunded. Not only do females and women have a unique physiology and experiences that impact their health differently from men, many women experience them differently at different times in their lives than men. Ignoring these differences, it becomes more difficult to accurately diagnose and treat these conditions.
Another large study found that for over 980 different disorders, women were diagnosed 3.7 years later than men for the very same disease. This was true for mental health disorders, Alzheimer's disease and more. A fundamental reason for these disparities is that most of our medical knowledge, including our diagnosis criteria, is based on the data and experiences of men.
This has led to the labelling of symptoms in women as atypical. This atypical label is seen across a wide variety of disorders, including depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder and autism. It's only atypical when you compare it to men. It's not atypical for the roughly 50% of our population. Words do matter. This atypical label likely contributes to the delay in diagnosis. We know that earlier diagnosis leads to earlier interventions and improved outcomes.
In another study we did, we examined over 8,000 Canadian grants across 11 years. We found that less than 6% of federal funding went towards women's health research. A recent World Economic Forum report suggested that we could save one trillion dollars a year worldwide if we invested in women's health research. The U.S. government is promising $12 billion for women's health research.
When funding for specific issues is protected, amazing discoveries are made. Consider the ALS ice bucket challenge that raised $115 million for ALS 10 years ago. This investment has more than doubled the number of researchers and publications, and increased the number of clinical trials 10 times, such that now we have at least four new approved treatments.
I recommend a concerted national investment in women's health research as this is necessary for improving women's mental health outcomes. Only when society values women's health factors, and pays more attention, will we be able to realize the promise of precision medicine.
Thank you.