New HER Australia Centre for women's mental health education and research

Prof Jayashri Kulkarni leading a team meeting

HER Centre Australia, established as a formal Monash University Centre in 2022 stands for Health, Education, and Research in Women's Mental Health. For more information about HER Centre Australia, visit the HER Centre Australia website - www.monash.edu/her-centre

Save the date (20 October) for Professor Jayashri's public lecture to launch the centre and focus on why women's mental health education and research is so important.

Mental illness has many gender-specific aspects that clinical research has not always addressed. For example, in conditions such as schizophrenia, the age of onset and pattern of symptoms commonly seen is different for women and men. Women and men may also respond differently to medications or other treatments. In addition, changes in the level of sex hormones such as estrogen are known to affect symptoms.

The HER Centre Australia team is working on numerous aspects of women’s mental health, the experiences of women with mental illness and potential options for treatment.

One particular focus of our research is the role of the neuroendocrine system in mental illnesses, and specifically the use of female hormones to improve the results of treatment. We are conducting ground-breaking research into the use of estrogen to improve symptoms in schizophrenia and the use of selective brain estrogens in postmenopausal women. We are also exploring possible links between the oral contraceptive pill and depression.