What’s New at This Year’s Annual Meeting?

APA’s 2026 Annual Meeting Scientific Program Committee welcomes everyone to this year’s meeting in San Francisco, where we have planned a stellar scientific program with 400 scientific sessions, 1,100 accepted posters, and a variety of courses and clinical updates.

Additionally, we have introduced several new initiatives that were developed using past feedback from attendees to broaden the appeal of the program and reach out to special groups of attendees. These include:

• The Biological Psychiatry and Psychopharmacology Hub, which will showcase key scientific sessions in these areas and make attendees aware of upcoming advances.


• A new plenary, “Leading With Science: Clinical Trials in 2026 and Beyond,” which will focus on Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials and will be presented by the principal investigators for those studies. This will be offered on Tuesday, May 19, from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon.

• “Meet the Professor” sessions, which will allow networking opportunities for a subset of attendees to directly ask clinical questions of experts. These will be held on today and Tuesday, May 16 and 19, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.


• Affinity groups, which will provide an opportunity to meet and network for psychiatrists working in a specific domain, such as private practice.


• New formats of learning, including debates and problem-based learning. Several new master courses and courses focused on the latest advances and relevance for clinical practice are also being introduced.


• A mini film festival, which will feature five short films relevant to psychiatric practice, showcased at noon on Tuesday, May 19.


• A new rotational subspecialty track, which will focus on consultation-liaison psychiatry.


• A child care program, which will support attendees who are young parents. This will be available at a nominal cost for children from 6 months to 12 years.

• A mini talent show, which will feature our resident-fellow members (RFM) and early-career psychiatrists (ECP), with entries vetted by APA’s RFM and ECP leaders.


• A renewed focus on new FDA-approved or FDA-cleared devices relevant to psychiatry, which will be found in the Mental Health Innovation Zone.


• Two new “EduTours,” including opportunities to hear the San Francisco Symphony perform Mahler’s Ninth Symphony and to participate in an Alfred Hitchcock walking tour of San Francisco.


• The APA Academy of Educational Excellence, which will be made available to attendees for participation. The academy is a professional development pathway designed to elevate the clinical, academic, and leadership skills of psychiatrists across all stages of practice.

We look forward to your attendance at APA’s 2026 Annual Meeting and the “scientific village” that our program committee has created. Welcome to San Francisco! ■