HOPE FOR DEPRESSION RESEARCH FOUNDATION, INC.
NEW YORK, NY

Our Mission The mission of the Hope for Depression Research Foundation (HDRF) is to fund cutting-edge, scientific research into the origins, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of depression and its related mood and other emotional disorders – bipolar disorder, postpartum depression, post-traumatic stress syndrome, anxiety disorder and suicide. When she passed away in December 2005, I vowed that I would do all in my power to help conquer this dreaded illness. As my mother’s patient advocate, I had consulted with leading psychopharmacologists to better understand her various treatments and medications. I soon discovered the staggering reality that in the twenty-five years since the introduction of Prozac and the other SSRI antidepressants, there has been virtually no change in the basic treatment of depression, just adjustments in the use of existing approaches. In order to encourage more cutting-edge research at a faster pace, in 2006 I started a new foundation in memory of my mother Hope – the Hope for Depression Research Foundation (HDRF). Our mission is two-fold: First and foremost HDRF funds advanced research to find the causes of depression, a medical diagnosis, new medications and treatments and prevention of depression. To that end, HDRF has formed the Depression Task Force — an outstanding collaboration of leading neuroscientists across the US and Canada, each a pioneer in their own field. Together they have created an unprecedented research plan – The Hope Project – that accelerates the research process by sharing ongoing results, in real time, at a new HDRF Data Center. The second goal is to raise awareness of depression as a medical illness and to educate the public about the facts of depression. We educate and inform in order to help remove the stigma of depression. Although doctors couldn’t find a cure for my mother’s psychic pain in her lifetime, I feel confident that with the progressive direction of our research and the encouragement of “out-of-the-box” scientific thinking, in my lifetime we will make significant strides, providing hope and help to everyone who is touched by depression. Audrey Butvay Gruss is Founder and Chairman of the Hope for Depression Research Foundation (HDRF), which she established in 2006 in memory of her late mother Hope, who battled clinical depression for decades. HDRF’s mission is to fund pioneering international scientific research into the origins, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of depression and its related mood and other emotional disorders, with the ultimate goal of finding a cure. HDRF distinguishes itself as the only significantly-funded research program, public or private, based on “affective neuroscience”, which integrates the fields of neuroscience (the biology of the brain) and affect (the mind and emotions). Audrey Gruss was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy, from the University of Haifa, for her courage and perseverance in creating a research foundation to support this visionary mission. Audrey Gruss is also President of The Audrey and Martin Gruss Foundation, which she and her husband established twenty years ago as a private philanthropic foundation to support a wide range of charitable activities, especially focusing on the cultural arts, education and medical research. Mrs. Gruss brought the skills of her executive experience in the fields of international marketing and advertising to the non-profit arena. She was the former co-owner and President of Terme di Saturnia, Inc., an international scientifically–focused skincare firm. She established the marketing tie-in between the Terme di Saturnia Spa in Italy with the Doral Hotels, to create the Doral Saturnia Spa Resort in Miami. She previously served as a marketing and advertising executive at J.P. Stevens, Revlon and as Director of Advertising and Creative Services Worldwide for Elizabeth Arden. Mrs. Gruss graduated with honors from Tufts University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. A Fellow of Tufts University, she established the Audrey Butvay Gruss Science Award for women. Internationally, Mrs. Gruss is on the Advisory Board of FAI: Fondo per l’Ambiente Italiano, the premier architectural preservation group in Italy and is a member of the International Council of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris. She is a Board member of the American Friends of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Mrs. Gruss is a former Benefactor of the American Academy in Rome and former International Benefactor Co-Chairman of the American Friends of the London Symphony Orchestra. Audrey Gruss is a native Lithuanian who has supported numerous charitable efforts in the Baltics, ranging from cultural to social services to democratic educational training. She is a founding Board member of the US-Baltic Foundation where she created the Gruss Fellows, an exchange program which provided grass-roots democracy training in the U.S. for Baltic municipal government employees. The US-Baltic Foundation honored her with a Founder’s Award in December 2002 for her leadership on behalf of the Baltic cause. She actively supports numerous charities in the Baltic countries, including Lithuanian Orphan Care and Lithuanian Religious Aid. She was one of the key underwriters of the first U.S.-Baltic Art Tour in 2000. Mrs. Gruss is a founding Board Member of the Lithuanian Ambassador’s , and Co-Chaired the Program Committee for the 40th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis. He has been an examiner for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and a specialist site visitor in Psychiatry for the American College of Graduate Medical Education’s Residency Review Committee. Before joining the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Dr. Koenigsberg had been at the Weill Cornell Medical School, where he was recipient of a Faculty Scholar Award supporting his research. In addition, he has been active as a psychiatric educator, teaching medical students as well as psychiatric residents. Dr. Koenigsberg’s teaching excellence was recognized with the Teacher of the Year Award at the Weill Cornell New York Presbyterian Medical Center, Westchester Division. Dr. Koenigsberg is a graduate of Columbia College and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and holds an M.A. in Physics from Columbia University. He is a Founding Board Member of the Hope for Depression Research Foundation.