Texas A&M University neuroscience professor Jessica Bernard, Ph.D., is collaborating with Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) on a study examining how menopause affects the brain. The project, led by Dr. Alison Weiss at OHSU, received a $125,000 grant in May 2025 from the OHSU Center for Women’s Health Circle of Giving.
Bernard, professor in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences and holder of the Ella McFadden Endowed Professorship in Liberal Arts, as well as an Association for Psychological Sciences (APS) Fellow, contributes her expertise in neuroimaging and cognitive neuroscience to the study.
The study tracks brain activity in adult women using weekly scans over six months. Participants include two perimenopausal women and two postmenopausal women, with one in each group receiving hormone therapy. Researchers aim to see how hormone changes influence brain networks and structures and whether hormone therapy affects these patterns.
Parallel studies in non-human primates will examine how the timing of hormone therapy—shortly after ovary removal or delayed—impacts brain networks. The goal is to better understand how menopause-related hormone changes may contribute to cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease, which disproportionately affects women.