Giving Back Hope

Palm Beach philanthropist Audrey Gruss took the long view when she founded the Hope for Depression Research Foundation (HDRF) in 2006, just months after the death of her mother, Hope, who suffered from clinical depression. 

Gruss laments that treatments for depression have advanced little since the introduction of Prozac in the 1980s. When Gruss started a nonprofit to fund research into the causes, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of depression, she knew the work would require perseverance. Her dedication is paying off.  

The HDRF’s Depression Task Force (DTF), a team of 10 esteemed neuroscientists from the United States and Canada, is making discoveries that could lead to new ways of diagnosing and treating depression, an illness that affects over 18 million adults a year and is the leading reason someone dies of suicide about every 11 minutes. 

“We believe that the field and the Depression Task Force, in particular, is now at an inflection point, at the beginning of a revolution in brain research,” says Gruss, who lives in New York. “So for the first time in history, in my lifetime, there’s a rational basis for optimism in better understanding and conquering depression.”

The DTF has identified new targets in the brain for diagnosing and treating depression. It has two potential new categories of medication in pilot clinical trials at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Columbia University, says Louisa Benton, executive director of HDRF. “We have several more trials of potential therapeutics in the pipeline.”

In addition, HDRF is funding research into deep brain stimulation, “a surgical intervention for severe, treatment-resistant depression,” Benton says, as well as other potential treatments. 

HDRF, which has offices in West Palm Beach and New York, offers hope in a dark time. “The mental health impact of COVID-19 has been staggering,” notes Benton. “The threat is no longer a physical virus, but a global mental health crisis triggered by the upheaval and distress of the past year.”

Although depression is the second-most prevalent illness in the U.S. today, it doesn’t get the federal funding it needs and many large drug makers have canceled or scaled back their neuroscience research, according to the HDRF. That’s why the charity’s work is critical. 

“The (HDRF) Depression Task Force has largely defined the entire field of depression research over the past decade,” says Gruss. “This remarkable collaboration of scientists has pooled data and expertise to make progress across the spectrum.”

For information, call 561-515-6454 or visit hopefordepression.org.