Hope for Depression Research Foundation (HDRF) Founder & Chair Audrey Gruss saluted Anderson Cooper for his public discussion of his family’s personal story of depression and suicide at its 10th Annual HOPE Luncheon Seminar at The Plaza Hotel.
His use of multi-media to speak out about his own family’s experience helps reduce stigma and sparks millions of life-saving conversations.
Cooper gave a heartfelt speech explaining 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. 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 leading non-profit dedicated to advanced depression research honored the Award-winning CNN Anchor and Journalist with the 2016 HOPE Award for Depression Advocacy.
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, while 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.
Guests included: Jay McInerney, Karen LeFrak, Susan Gutfreund, and HRH Princess Katherine of Serbia, 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.