Inside the 2026 Livelong Women’s Health Summit, Where Menopause Took Center Stage

This weekend in New York, something extraordinary happened. For two days, a who’s who of women’s health and longevity experts took over the Hilton Hotel in midtown New York to talk about how women in midlife can be stronger, healthier and happier.

The Livelong Women’s Health Summit saw more than 2,000 women come together to learn about evidence-based ways to live and age well. There were talks from boldfaced names happening in big lecture halls, smaller roundtable discussions and lots of chances to check out emerging wellness tech and products.

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The weekend included deep dives into the hottest topics in women’s health: heart disease, menopause, GLP-1s, protecting the brain and building and maintaining muscle to remain mobile and independent into old age.

Attendees watching a panel in the Hilton's Grand Ballroom. Courtesy: Brooke Bryand Creative/Courtesy Livelong Media.

Attendees watching a panel in the Hilton’s Grand Ballroom. Courtesy: Brooke Bryand Creative/Courtesy Livelong Media.

Flow Space, one of the event’s media sponsors, was on the scene for both days.

The major draw of Day One was the keynote address from legendary actress and activist Jane Fonda who spoke with Stacy Sims, PhD, exercise physiologist and chief scientific advisor at Livelong Media, about The Third Act of life.

One of the two-time Oscar winner’s best pieces of advice? To cultivate more friendships. “I consider the fact that I have friends one of the big deals in my life,” Fonda shared before advising the audience to keep their female friends close.

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The 9 to 5 star was a big hit — and many women took her guidance to heart. Shari Adler, 48 year-old wellness facilitator and perimenopause coach, told us how Fonda discussing her activism was a reminder to “dive back into the things that make me feel alive.”

Melyana Tjahyadikarta, a 65 year-old film producer visiting from Jakarta, Indonesia, felt motivated by Fonda’s “strong spirit and healthy body” to drill down on her own wellbeing. She especially wants to work on increasing her bone density.

Bobbi Brown, makeup artist and founder of Jones Road Beauty, then took to the main stage to talk about starting over and aging with power.

Other highlights included a morning ruck (a walk with weighted vests) in Central Park led by author Tamsen Fadal. Later, attendees had an open floor to ask esteemed experts orthopedic surgeon Dr. Vonda Wright, OB-GYN and menopause specialist Dr. Mary Claire Haver, longevity expert Dr. Hillary Lin and reproductive endocrinologist Dr. Natalie Crawford all their questions about managing health in midlife and beyond.

(L-R): Dr. Vonda Wright, Dr. Natalie Crawford, Stacy Sims, PhD, Dr. Mary Claire Haver and Dr. Hillary Lin. Courtesy: Brooke Bryand Creative/Courtesy Livelong Media.

(L-R): Dr. Vonda Wright, Dr. Natalie Crawford, Stacy Sims, PhD, Dr. Mary Claire Haver and Dr. Hillary Lin. Courtesy: Brooke Bryand Creative/Courtesy Livelong Media.

Day two kicked off with a talk from Sims about how women can fuel, train and recover in the best way. Then, Dr. Jessica Shepherd, a board-certified OB-GYN and chief medical officer at Hers, educated attendees about what ovarian aging actually means.

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Emmy nominated actress Constance Zimmer joined Julie Flakstad, co-founder of The Midlife Collective, to talk about why framing midlife as a time of transformation instead of decline matters. Dr. Sasha Hamdani, a board-certified psychiatrist and ADHD expert, spoke on a panel about the high cost of burnout and invisible labor.

Our very own Lauren Iannotti, SHE Media’s chief content and events officer, moderated a panel about what women need to know about their sexual health. And Caitlin Kiernan, Flow Space’s editorial director, led a conversation about peptides, one of the wellness world’s buzziest and most misunderstood topics.

Overall, attendees we spoke with said they learned a lot — even younger ones. Dr. Rubaina Dang, a 33-year old naturopathic doctor from San Diego shared that she’s excited about aging because “with each decade of life women become wiser, fitter and their nervous systems are much more regulated.”

Zimmer echoed that sentiment. “We’re all in this together,” she told Flow Space. “This is a time in your life where women show up for women more than they ever have before.”

Author: Health Watch Minute

Health Watch Minute Provides the latest health information, from around the globe.

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