Endometriosis 2026: The Nerve-Centric Disease — New York City, March 6–8, 2026

In March 2026, the Endometriosis Foundation of America will convene its 17th Annual Scientific Meeting in New York City as a flagship event of Endometriosis Awareness Month—built around a single, field-shifting theme. 

For the first time on a global stage, this meeting spotlights the nervous system as a central driver of endometriosis—bringing the neuro aspect of the disease to the forefront of how we understand pain, progression, and care.

“Endometriosis 2026: The Nerve-Centric Disease”

It’s a reframing that matches what patients and clinicians experience every day: pain is not a side effect of endometriosis—it is biology. And biology has nerves at the center.

A Nerve-Centric Disease: Endometriosis

For years, endometriosis has been discussed through a primarily hormonal or pelvic lens. That model helped, but it also left major gaps—especially when symptoms persist despite treatment, when pain intensity doesn’t match lesion burden, or when the disease shows up outside the pelvis.

The 2026 program reframes endometriosis as a neuroinflammatory, nerve-driven condition that can extend beyond the pelvis, with pain shaped by neuro-immune signaling, neuroangiogenesis, and perineural fibrosis. In other words: the nervous system is not just responding to disease—it’s participating in it.

Why this meeting matters right now

This meeting is designed for clinicians and scientists who are tired of vague explanations and ready for a sharper framework. The agenda will connect the dots between mechanism and medicine: how nerves and immune cells communicate, how fibrosis forms around pain pathways, and how organ-specific pain behaves in real patients.

If you manage endometriosis and think, “I can excise disease and still not fix the pain,” this meeting is for you. If you study inflammation but want clinically meaningful questions, this meeting is for you. If you care about surgical outcomes and avoiding repeat operations, this meeting is for you.

Beyond the pelvis: pelvic, thoracic, sciatic, and extra-pelvic disease

A key focus of Endometriosis 2026 is disease that challenges standard assumptions—especially extra-pelvic endometriosis, including thoracic and sciatic involvement. These cases expose the limits of a pelvis-only framework and demand nerve-aware thinking, anatomy-specific strategy, and interdisciplinary precision.

This year’s sessions will emphasize pain as a biologically driven process, not a secondary phenomenon. That includes the surgical challenges of pelvic and extra-pelvic disease—and the need to treat pain generators, not just visible lesions.

Two days of science, one day for patients

Scientific Meeting: Friday–Saturday, March 6–7, 2026
These two days are built for depth: rigorous talks, translational discussion, and practical learning that links biology to operative decision-making, pathology, imaging, and outcomes.

Patient Day (PD): March 7–8, 2026

Patient Day is a two-day experience designed to bring science back to its purpose—people living with pain. Beginning on March 7, it intentionally bridges the Medical Conference with patient advocacy, creating a shared space where clinical insight, research, and lived experience meet. On March 8, Patient Day fully translates the new nerve-centric framework into real-world understanding—offering clarity instead of clichés, and empowering patients and families with knowledge that truly connects research to everyday life.

Who should be in the room

This meeting is for endometriosis surgeons, MIGS specialists, REIs, pelvic pain clinicians, pain medicine physicians, gynecologists, pathologists, neuroscientists, immunologists, researchers, and trainees who want a more complete model of endometriosis.

If your work touches pelvic pain, inflammation, fibrosis, nerve entrapment, or chronic pain circuitry, you’ll leave with a stronger map for what’s happening—and why.

New York City. March 6–8, 2026. Save the dates.

Endometriosis Awareness Month deserves more than awareness. It deserves evolution.

Endometriosis 2026 is a chance to align the field around what patients have been telling us all along: the pain is real, the biology is real, and the nervous system belongs in the center of the conversation.

Save March 6–8, 2026. Join the meeting. Help shape what endometriosis care becomes next.