APA 2026 Conference Preview for Schizophrenia Sessions

Published: April 15, 2026

From May 16 through May 20, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) is hosting its 2026 annual conference in San Francisco, California. The 2026 APA Annual Meeting emphasizes practical, evidence-based approaches to navigating an increasingly complex clinical and professional landscape, offering workshops, discussions, and shared strategies designed to meet psychiatrists where they are.

Today’s preview highlights currently scheduled sessions on schizophrenia topics. Dates and times are current as of Wednesday, April 8, 2026. Some session descriptions have been edited for clarity or brevity. No schizophrenia-associated sessions are currently scheduled for Tuesday, May 19. For a complete look at the APA 2026 Scientific Program schedule, view the full program.

Schizophrenia Sessions at the 2026 APA Annual Meeting

Saturday, May 16

Antipsychotic Weight Gain in SMI: Integrating GLP1 Receptor Agonists Into Your Clinical Practice

1:30 PM – 3:00 PM
Description: Unhealthy lifestyle, disease-state and environmental factors and antipsychotic medications all may negatively impact physical health of patients with schizophrenia. Despite awareness of this problem for the last 30+ years, there has been little improvement in mortality rates in this patient population. GLP-1 receptor agonists have demonstrated significant benefits in diabetes mellitus, heart disease, obstructive sleep apnea and obesity. There is a growing evidence base for their use in substance use disorders and cognitive impairment.

Dopamine and Glutamate in Schizophrenia: Possible New Roads That Could Lead to Targeted Treatment

1:30 PM – 3:00 PM
Description: This presentation will focus on [the NMDA receptor hypofunction hypothesis of schizophrenia, which involves the study of glutamate using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy], the agreements and differences within the nuances of the findings and the available data of other groups, and the future directions and opportunities in the study and future treatment of early psychosis.

Alexander Gralnick Award: Computational Phenotyping of Schizophrenia Risk Informed by Lived Experience

3:45 PM – 5:15 PM
Description: This session will describe the work that has been done, in collaboration with individuals with lived experience, to use computational approaches such as natural language processing and computer vision, to better understand and quantify patterns of thought, emotion, spoken language and face expression common among individuals with schizophrenia, or who are at clinical high risk, by virtue of having attenuated psychotic symptoms.

Sunday, May 17

Deprescribing Antipsychotics: Why When How

10:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Description: The view of many experts is that recommending widespread antipsychotic discontinuation goes against the principles of recovery-oriented care. Prescribers should be careful assessing the expressed desire to interrupt treatment, including navigating conflicts of client independence vs medical evidence. Stakeholder involvement and psychoeducation are critical when making such decisions. This presentation will summarize data relevant to this issue and provide guidance to clinicians on addressing the challenges that it presents in day-to-day care. This is part one of a split-topic session.

Foundations of Early Psychosis Care for Children and Transition-Age Youth

1:30 PM – 5:30 PM
Description: This course will equip psychiatrists with foundational skills for working with adolescents and transitional age youth living with psychosis.

From Brain to Blood: Mechanism-Based Biomarkers for Psychosis Prediction and Personalized Early Intervention

3:45 PM – 5:15 PM
Description: This session presents recent advances that substantially improve [the] ability to predict and prevent psychosis through mechanism-based biomarkers. This presentation will guide participants through a translational program spanning molecular mechanisms to clinical implementation.

Monday, May 18

Intervening Early in Psychosis: Building and Maintaining a Collaborative Team Approach

8:30 AM – 10:00 AM
Description: This presentation focuses on practical strategies for building, maintaining, and strengthening coordinated specialty care (CSC) teams in the context of workforce shortages, fidelity requirements, and increasing clinical complexity. Presenters will discuss how psychiatrists contribute not only through diagnostic assessment and psychopharmacologic care, but also through shared decision-making and close collaboration with all team members. The presentation will review core CSC team components, including leadership, care coordination, supported employment and education, and peer support, with an emphasis on team collaboration, structured meetings, flat hierarchies, and role clarity.

Clozapine Monitoring - Life After REMS

8:30 AM – 10:00 AM
Description: This session is aimed at supporting psychiatrists' decision making in how and what to monitor when prescribing clozapine. This session will review why the REMS was used initially in the United States as well as the factors that led to its closure. Clozapine associated morbidity and mortality will be reviewed including the risk of severe neutropenia associated with clozapine and other risks such as gastrointestinal hypomotility and cardiac dysfunction.

Focus Live! New and Developing Treatments in Schizophrenia

1:30 PM – 3:00 PM
Description: This Focus Live! session, based on the fall 2025 issue of Focus, will review [new pharmacologic and psychosocial approaches that may better address persistent symptoms, functional impairments, and medication side effects of schizophrenia] through an interactive, question-based format.

Wednesday, May 20

Updates in the Assessment and Management of Clozapine Induced Myocarditis

8:30 AM – 10:00 AM
Description: Clozapine remains the gold standard for treatment-resistant schizophrenia. Yet, its underutilization stems from serious risks such as clozapine-induced myocarditis, a potentially fatal adverse effect that overlaps clinically and biochemically with clozapine-induced pneumonia. In this session, [the presenters will] introduce recent advances in the assessment and management of clozapine-induced myocarditis, focusing on a novel multidisciplinary diagnostic algorithm designed to enhance accuracy, differentiate clozapine-induced myocarditis from clozapine-induced pneumonia, and guide safe rechallenge decisions.

Deep Brain Stimulation in Schizophrenia

10:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Description: In this session, the presenters will examine deep brain stimulation in treatment-resistant schizophrenia to determine its added value. Brain mapping outcomes and endpoint changes will be reported, along with a fuller demonstration of the methods.