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On Tuesday, November 15, Hope
for Depression Research Foundation (HDRF),
the leading non-profit dedicated to advanced depression
research held its 10th Annual HOPE Luncheon Seminar at The
Plaza Hotel where they honored Award-winning CNN Anchor and
Journalist Anderson
Cooper with
the 2016 HOPE Award for Depression Advocacy.
HDRF Founder & Chair Audrey
Gruss saluted
Anderson Cooper for his public discussion of his family’s
personal story of depression and suicide. His use of
multi-media to speak out about his own family’s experience
helps reduce stigma and sparks millions of life-saving
conversations.
Focused on the topic “The Search for New
Depression Treatments,” the sold-out event featured Dr.
John Krystal, Yale’s Chief of Psychiatry, who spoke
about the crisis in depression research. Dr.
Helen Mayberg of
Emory University explained her pioneering work in Deep Brain
Stimulation and the latest discoveries of HDRF’s elite team
of researchers collaborating as the Depression Task Force.
Chuck Scarborough was
Master of Ceremonies and guests, including Jay
McInerney, Karen LeFrak, Susan Gutfreund, and HRH
Princess Katherine of Serbia, listened
as he
noted that depression has become the Number One Reason in
the world for disability. He also noted the rise of
depression awareness in the media, with a growing movement
of celebrities -- Bruce Springsteen, Lady Gaga, Selena
Gomez, Kristen Bell, Naomi Judd and the rapper Kid Cudi --
speaking out against stigma and sharing their personal
experience with the illness.
HDRF Executive Director Louisa
Benton spoke
about the strong presence of HDRF in the media through the
new technology of a satellite media tour conducted by Audrey
Gruss in 30 U.S. cities. She also shared the powerful TV
advertisement created by McCann Humancare. Benton briefly
described the success of the first Walk of Hope this past
July in Southampton. She then introduced 11-year-old Shane
Boylan, who
raised $4,000 with a bike ride he organized in memory of his
father, who died by suicide.
Audrey Gruss then introduced “journalist,
author, thinker and humanitarian,” Anderson Cooper, who
accepted the HOPE Award with a heartfelt speech that
explained how he managed his emotions after his brother
committed suicide in 1988. He became a war reporter and
traveled the world telling other people’s stories before he
began to heal by telling his own story. He said there were
moments in the “dwindling light of day when you expected to
find darkness and [instead] you find light and humanity.” He
concluded with saying, “Each of us will get by the best that
we can [but] we must reach out and tentatively touch with
our hands, with our eyes, and with our hearts.”
The Luncheon Seminar Co-Chairs are: Caroline
Dean, Arthur Dunnam, Bonnie Pfeifer Evans, Peter Gregory,
Susan Gutfreund, Tania Higgins, Eleanora Kennedy, Margo
Langenberg, Jay McInerney, and Farah
Moinan.
Additional guests included: Janna
Bullock, Sharon Bush, Caroline Dean, William Flaherty, Jamee
Gregory, Martin Gruss, Mai Hallingby Harrison, Kim Heirston,
Yaz Hernandez, Ritchey Howe, Eleanora Kennedy, Margo
Langenberg, Kamie Lightburn, Sharon Loeb, Christine Mack,
Lorrie & Mark Newhouse, Tom Quick, Patti Raynes, Nancy
Silverman, Scott Snyder and Robert Zimmerman .
ABOUT HOPE FOR DEPRESSION RESEARCH FOUNDATION
HDRF's mission is to fund the most innovative
neuroscience research into the origins, diagnosis, treatment
and prevention of depression and other mood disorders –
bipolar disorder, postpartum depression, post-traumatic
stress syndrome, anxiety disorder and suicide. Founding
Chair Audrey Gruss launched HDRF in 2006 in memory of her
mother Hope, who struggled with depression for decades.
In 2010, HDRF created its Depression Task
Force (DTF) – an outstanding collaboration of eight leading
scientists, at the frontiers of brain science, from
different research institutions across the U.S. and Canada.
These scientists have developed an unprecedented research
strategy that integrates the most advanced knowledge in
genetics, epigenetics, molecular biology, electrophysiology,
and brain imaging. To accelerate breakthrough research, they
share ongoing results, in real time, at the HDRF Data
Center. For more information, visit :www.hopefordepression.org
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