Hormones Across the Lifespan: What Women’s Mental Health Looks Like in Primary Care
Tracks
Ballroom 1
Ballroom 2
Tamborine Gallery
| Tuesday, September 1, 2026 |
| 8:40 AM - 9:10 AM |
| JW Grand Ballroom |
Overview
Assoc. Professor Magdalena Simonis AM MBBS FRACGP DRANZCOG MHHS
Clinical Associate Professor Department of General Practice University of Melbourne
Speaker
Associate Professor Magdalena Simonis AM
Hormones Across the Lifespan: What Women’s Mental Health Looks Like in Primary Care
Abstract
This keynote examines how interconnected physiological and psychosocial shifts affect the perinatal period, perimenopause, menopause and post-menopause. Hormonal transitions across a woman’s life are not discrete clinical events but do shape mental health in complex, often under-recognised ways. These phases represent critical windows where neuroendocrine change intersects with identity, environment and lived experience—yet are frequently fragmented in clinical care.
Drawing on decades of experience in primary care, women’s health advocacy and system-level leadership, Magdalena will explore how the same woman can be repeatedly missed, misread or mismanaged across her lifespan. From the cognitive and emotional impacts of perimenopause on the female brain, to the reframing of distress as a rational response to context rather than pathology. This keynote challenges dominant biomedical narratives that too often decontextualise women’s experiences.
The discussion highlights symptom presentation and help-seeking, and the very real consequences when these are overlooked. It considers how identity, culture and structural inequities shape access to care, clinical interpretation and outcomes, particularly for marginalised groups. Central to this is the recognition of lived experience not as anecdote, but as a form of authority and leadership essential to reshaping care.
Attention is given to where women enter the health system—and what happens next—revealing patterns of fragmentation, dismissal and over-medicalisation. The cumulative impact of mental load, burnout and invisible labour is positioned as both a clinical and societal issue.
Ultimately, this keynote calls for a reimagining of clinical practice and health systems through a lifespan-informed, relational and context-aware lens. It outlines what it means to build responsive, equitable models of care that recognise hormonal transitions as integral to women’s mental health, rather than peripheral to it—and offers a roadmap for rebuilding systems that truly see, hear and respond to women across the course of their lives.
Drawing on decades of experience in primary care, women’s health advocacy and system-level leadership, Magdalena will explore how the same woman can be repeatedly missed, misread or mismanaged across her lifespan. From the cognitive and emotional impacts of perimenopause on the female brain, to the reframing of distress as a rational response to context rather than pathology. This keynote challenges dominant biomedical narratives that too often decontextualise women’s experiences.
The discussion highlights symptom presentation and help-seeking, and the very real consequences when these are overlooked. It considers how identity, culture and structural inequities shape access to care, clinical interpretation and outcomes, particularly for marginalised groups. Central to this is the recognition of lived experience not as anecdote, but as a form of authority and leadership essential to reshaping care.
Attention is given to where women enter the health system—and what happens next—revealing patterns of fragmentation, dismissal and over-medicalisation. The cumulative impact of mental load, burnout and invisible labour is positioned as both a clinical and societal issue.
Ultimately, this keynote calls for a reimagining of clinical practice and health systems through a lifespan-informed, relational and context-aware lens. It outlines what it means to build responsive, equitable models of care that recognise hormonal transitions as integral to women’s mental health, rather than peripheral to it—and offers a roadmap for rebuilding systems that truly see, hear and respond to women across the course of their lives.
Biography
Associate Professor Magdalena Simonis is a leading Australian general practitioner, researcher and educator at The University of Melbourne who is widely recognised for her contributions to primary care, women’s health, medical education, and health system improvement.
Magdalena is on the Breast Screen Australia Clinical Advisory Group, the National Endometriosis Action Plan Expert Advisory Group, the Victorian Multicultural Health Advisory Committee, Clinical Director of the Victorian Mobile Women’s Health Service pilot program and member of the Australian Digital Health Agency’s inaugural Clinical Advisory Group. Magdalena has multiple Board Director roles and enjoys countering misinformation as a health columnist for The Australian and weekly podcaster for SBS.
