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ANN ARBOR,
MI - A new $750,000 gift to the University
of Michigan Depression Center will accelerate new programs to
help people with depression get the treatment they need, and sow
the seeds for a potential future network of depression centers across
the United States.
 The
unrestricted, three-year gift from the Lilly Foundation is the largest
ever given to a U-M program by the foundation, the nonprofit philanthropic
arm of Eli Lilly and Company.
"With
this gift, we will be better able to reach out to patients and their
families in primary care and community settings, find ways to help
improve patients' adherence to treatment, and share the U-M Depression
Center model with other institutions across the country," says
John Greden, M.D., executive director of the U-M Depression Center
and Rachel Upjohn Professor and chair of psychiatry at the U-M Medical
School. "We're tremendously grateful to the foundation for
sharing and supporting our vision of improving depression care for
everyone."
"The U-M
Depression Center uses a more complete approach to recognizing and
treating all the symptoms of depression -- aches and pains as well
as the more easily identifiable symptoms of depression such as sadness,
insomnia and appetite changes -- providing the best opportunity
for people to get better," says Paula Trzepacz, MD, Medical
Director of Eli
Lilly and Company US Neurosciences.
She continues,
"The University of Michigan
has taken a bold step in naming their center specifically for a
condition which still carries social stigma in the minds of many
people. We at Lilly are proud to support the U-M Depression Center,
the model program for establishing a national network of state-of-the-art
depression centers. Their novel approach enables more doctors to
more effectively reach the millions of Americans who suffer from
depression each year."
The U-M Depression
Center, part of the U-M Health System, was founded in 2001 as the
nation's first comprehensive depression center combining research,
treatment and education.
The new gift
will expand the University's already strong relationship with both
the Lilly Foundation and the company, which supports research and
education programs in many areas of the University, including pharmacy,
business, chemistry and engineering. Besides philanthropic support,
other interactions include recruiting, research, and service on
advisory boards.
With the Lilly gift, the U-M Depression Center will expand outreach
activities aimed at helping primary care physicians select and carry
out treatment strategies for people with depression; giving patients
an automated phone-based system for reporting their day-to-day response
to treatment, thereby saving time, travel and effort; and coordinating
care for patients through trained specialists called Care Navigators.
"Primary
care and community approaches to depression are crucial to overcoming
the under-diagnosis and under-treatment of all forms of depression,"
says Greden. In an effort to help mental health care providers understand
and manage depression in their patients, the U-M Depression Center
has developed programs that streamline treatment selection, patient
tracking and management of medication side effects and interactions.
The gift will
also allow Depression Center researchers to develop and share strategies
for improving the rate at which depression patients adhere to their
treatment regimens. "Adherence is key to the success of treatment,
whether it's medication, talk therapy or a combination of both,"
says Greden.
In addition,
the gift will help the U-M develop alliances that may eventually
lead to a national network of depression centers. Says Greden, "Our
vision is to emulate the wonderfully successful precedents established
by the national networks of cancer centers and heart centers. This
gift will allow us to accelerate the already emerging alliance of
partners to promote and catalyze such a network in depression."
Written
by: Kara Gavin
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