Dr. Mariapaola Barbato is a former Assistant Professor and PhD in Cognitive Psychology with extensive experience in large-scale multidisciplinary research. Using a variety of methodologies, her work has focused on exploring the link between cognitive function and mental health in both healthy and clinical populations. As the Scientific Lead of the Women’s Brain Foundation, Dr. Barbato contributes her expertise to research and advocacy, promoting a precision medicine approach and aiming to close the sex and gender gap in healthcare.

The event will feature two focused panels:

The first will explore the concept of women’s brain capital—why it matters, how to invest in it, and what it means for health systems and innovation.

The second will focus on sex and gender differences in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, and how these differences impact diagnosis, care, and lived experience.

AGENDA

Welcome and Opening Remarks | Dr. Mariapaola Barbato – Scientific Lead, Women’s Brain Foundation

Panel 1 – Women’s Brain Capital: An Investment Imperative

Moderator: Dr. Antonella Santuccione Chadha, CEO-Women’s Brain Foundation

  • Dr. Antonella Santuccione Chadha, MD PhD, CEO-Women’s Brain Foundation
    • Presenting WBF’s Nature Mental Health paper and the concept of women’s brain capital.
  • Dr. Harris Eyre – MD PhD, Lead of Neuro-Policy-Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, Advisory Board Member-Women’s Brain Foundation
    • Discussing how the brain capital framework can accelerate women’s brain health as a global economic and policy priority.
  • Prof Indrit Bègue – MD, PhD, Research Group Leader-University of Geneva
    • Addressing how neuroscience-informed public health strategies can promote women’s mental health and cognitive health across the lifespan.
  • Rosa Sangiorgio – Impact-Investing Advisor, Board of Director and CEO of the Lab Studio-Women’s Brain Foundation
    • Exploring the role of sustainable finance and sex and gender-lens investing in advancing brain health.
  • Liliane Brunner Halbach, Artemis Women’s Health Foundation – Advancing innovation in women’s health
    • Sharing Artemis’ approach to connecting leaders to accelerate solutions in women’s health, including brain and mental health.

Live Q&A

Panel 2 – Sex and Gender Precision Medicine in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases

Moderator: Dr. Roberta Marongiu, Assistant Professor-Weill Cornell Medicine, Scientific Lead USA-Women’s Brain Foundation

  • Dr. Roberta Marongiu, Assistant Professor-Weill Cornell Medicine, Scientific Lead USA-Women’s Brain Foundation
    • Sex differences in Parkinson’s disease research and clinical settings: challenges and opportunities.
  • Richelle Flanagan, Dietitian and Parkinson’s advocate, Co-founder of digital health start-up My Moves Matter
    • Lived experience of Parkinson’s as a woman and the need for gender-responsive care and research.
  • Prof Carmela Tartaglia, Professor and Clinician-Scientist-University of Toronto, Advisory Board Member-Women’s Brain Foundation
    • Why are sex-differentiated diagnostic criteria needed.
  • Dr. Alvin Ang, Clinician-Scientist, Assistant Professor-Boston University
    • Examining how sex-specific brain aging patterns and neuropathological markers shape Alzheimer’s disease risk and progression.

Live Q&A

Closing Remarks – Dr. Antonella Santuccione Chadha, Dr. Mariapaola Barbato

Moderators

Dr. Antonella Santuccione Chadha is a renowned medical doctor with expertise in neuroscience, psychiatry, and precision medicine. Her leadership spans roles in academia, pharmaceutical companies (e.g., Roche, Biogen), and start-ups (e.g., Altoida), where she guided broad multidisciplinary and multicultural teams. She fostered the careers of many junior colleagues, predominantly female and from different continents. Currently she is fully dedicated to scaling up Women’s Brain Foundation’s activities. She has been listed among the Top 100 Women in Business in Switzerland, and has received numerous accolades, including the World Sustainability Award, the Veuve Clicquot Bold Woman Award, and the Women Empowering Award. In addition to these, in 2024 she has been honored with the “Katherinenturm” Project for her scientific contributions that shaped Swiss history. In 2025 she was listed among the Women leaders to watch.

Dr. Roberta Marongiu is an Assistant Professor of Genetics and Neuroscience at Weill Cornell Medicine and a leading expert in Parkinson’s disease research.  Her groundbreaking work has advanced gene therapy and deepened understanding of the role of biological sex in neurodegenerative diseases. She co-founded stoPD, a non profit promoting exercise based interventions for Parkinson’s, and serves as Scientific Lead for the Women’s Brain Foundation in the US, advocating for sex and gender based research in brain health.

Panelists

Rosa is an Impact Investing Advisor with 27 years of experience in investment management at leading financial institutions. She has structured and managed investment solutions for institutional and private investors, with a strong focus on sustainability and impact investing since 2012. Before becoming independent, she designed, championed, and operationalised the sustainability strategy at Credit Suisse Investment Management and later at Pictet Wealth Management. A CEFA charterholder, TEDx speaker, angel investor, and Independent Board Member, Rosa also serves as Chair of the Swiss Platform for Impact Investing.

Harris is a physician, neuroscientist, entrepreneur, and strategist. He is dedicated to fostering awareness, data, tools, investment, and leadership for the brain transition. To do this, he works across public, non-profit, philanthropic, and private sectors. He is a senior fellow for brain health and society at Rice University’s Office of Innovation, leads Neuro-Policy at the Baker Institute and is an adjunct with Rice’s Neuro Engineering Initiative. He is a visiting senior fellow at the Wharton Neuroscience Initiative, a senior advisor with McKinsey and Company, advisor at MD Anderson’s Cancer Neuroscience Program.

Dr. Tartaglia is a Professor at the University of Toronto and a cognitive-behavioral neurologist at the UHN Memory Clinic where she sees patients with neurodegenerative diseases. She employs a multi-modal approach, integrating imaging and biofluid biomarker with genetics, and clinical data to improve diagnosis and understand the underlying causes of cognitive, behavioral, and motor impairments. Her research aims to develop biomarkers for advancing precision medicine and enabling targeted, early interventions.

Indrit Bègue, MD, PhD, is Professor of Psychiatry and Neuromodulation. She directs the Neuroimaging and Translational Psychiatry Laboratory at the University of Geneva and serves as Médecin Hospitalo-Universitaire at the University Hospital of Geneva. She sits on the board of the Swiss Brain Health Plan. Her research uses brain imaging to identify circuit dysfunction and develop non-invasive brain circuit stimulation therapies.

Alvin, a clinician scientist and epidemiologist, primarily focuses his research on data management and analyses. He enjoys taking an agnostic approach to tackling diverse scientific questions, implementing various study designs, and adopting both conventional statistical and machine learning analytic techniques. An avid believer in team science, he plays a crucial role in spearheading data-sharing efforts and advocating for the open data movement. Alvin leads the data core for the Framingham Heart Study Brain Aging Program and the digital study at BU Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. He also serves as the Deputy Director for the Data Science and Bioinformatics Department at the National Heart Research Institute Singapore.

Liliane is a Senior Healthcare professional with 20+ years global experience in Drug Research & Development, Global Product Strategy, Access and Business Development. Liliane has worked in different roles in headquarters and affiliates of Novartis, Roche/Genentech, and AstraZeneca in Switzerland, Spain, the US, and Singapore. She understands science translation and drug development from early research through clinical development to commercialization and how to expand a product’s lifecycle. While working for Genentech, she volunteered as an industry advisor and lecturer for SPARK at Stanford Medical School – a mentoring program that helps researchers bring ideas from basic research to proof of concept. In her current role as a Deputy Head of the TMA at the University of Zurich, she mentors and prepares spinoffs and leads SPARK Zurich. Liliane joined the team of the Artemis WH Foundation in 2021 with the goal to foster and promote innovation in WH indications and support WH startups. Liliane has a MSc in Pharmacy and a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Basel, Switzerland.

Richelle is a patient entrepreneur having co-founded digital health start -up My Moves Matter in response to the unmet needs of women living with Parkinson’s with first-hand experience of living with the condition since 2017. Richelle has become a prominent figure in the global Parkinson’s community and was the 2023 recipient for the World Parkinson Congress Robin A. Elliott Award for outstanding community service. She is currently leveraging her 21 years of experience as a registered dietitian and nutrition consultant to bridge the gap in nutritional care for people with Parkinson’s through modern technology.

If you cannot attend on the day, don’t worry—a recording of the webinar will be available for you to watch at your convenience for a limited time.