The Hope for Depression Research Foundation, has announced that that iconic author, journalist and television producer Candace Bushnell has been named the celebrity Grand Marshal for the Seventh Annual Race of Hope, which returns to Southampton this summer on August 7th.
HDRF Founding Chair Audrey Gruss and Arthur Dunnam, both Hamptons residents, will join Bushnell as Co-Grand Marshals of the 2022 Race. They will lead racers on a gorgeous loop around Lake Agawam in Southampton Village. The Race attracts over 500 participants from the tri-state area to raise mental health awareness and fund research.
Hope for Depression Research Foundation was founded by Southampton philanthropist Audrey Gruss in 2006 to spur cutting-edge neuroscience research into the origins, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of depression, a national public health crisis in the United States and the world’s number one cause of disability.
In 2010, HDRF formed the Depression Task Force, an outstanding collaboration of top neuroscientists from different universities around the world who are pooling expertise and data to accelerate discovery. In a short time, they have made breakthrough discoveries that may lead to a physical diagnosis for depression as well as new and better treatments. Currently, a clinical trial for a new category of medication is underway at Mount Sinai and Columbia.
In addition to research, HDRF aims to raise awareness of depression as a medical illness and to educate the public about the facts of depression. HDRF seeks to educate and inform in order to help remove the stigma that surrounds depression.
At a time when federal funds are shrinking and several major drug companies have withdrawn from brain research, HDRF answers an urgent need for leadership in the field. Their research focuses on major depression and its related mood disorders including bipolar, postpartum depression, PTSD and anxiety.
To learn more, please visit www.hopefordepression.org/events
