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Hope for Depression Research Foundation
(HDRF), the leading non-profit dedicated
solely to advanced depression research,
held its 19th annual HOPE
Luncheon seminar on Wednesday, November
12 at The
Plaza Hotel. The
event focused
on “Stress
and the Brain: The Link between Stress
and Depression” with top
medical experts and Broadway legend Audra
McDonald, who
was honored for mental health advocacy.
“HDRF
has been a trusted source of information
about depression and anxiety for these
past two decades,” said HDRF
Founder & Chair Audrey Gruss at the
event, which raised $650,000 for brain
research and drew 250 guests. The topic
of stress and depression is timely, she
said, at a time when unpredictability
has become a permanent feature of modern
life.
“What can we do to avoid feeling
overwhelmed and helpless? What can the
latest science tell us about our nervous
systems and coping with uncertainty?”
Gruss asked. “Research shows that
stress and depression are strongly
linked, and this Luncheon will give
insights into how our nervous systems
can become more resilient.”
At the event, HDRF founder Audrey Gruss
presented Audra
McDonald with
the 2025 HOPE
Award for Depression Advocacy.
Gruss said that six-time Tony Award
winner Audra McDonald did not have an
easy road to greatness on the Great
White Way. “Audra has been very open
about her ongoing experience with
depression, including a suicide attempt
as a junior at Julliard. She has bravely
shared her story and message of
resilience with the media and serves as
an advocate for at risk youth, making
sure they get the support they need to
build their own buffer against
adversity.”
Audra McDonald delivered a moving
acceptance speech that brought the whole
room to their feet and many to tears.
McDonald recounted how after her suicide
attempt, she spent a month at Gracie
Square Hospital under heavy medication.
She spoke candidly, saying, “It was the
darkest time of my life. But it was also
the beginning of my healing. That time
I needed the medication. I needed it to
keep me safe for myself. Depression
lies …It tell you you’re a burden.
You’re too much, that the world is
better off without you. I have
absolutely no judgment about medication
or depression.”
Decades later, pregnant with her second
child, McDonald said she would pass
Gracie Square on her way to the OB/GYN.
“Every step past that hospital felt like
a love letter to survival, a reminder
that coming home to yourself isn't about
going back to who you were. It's about
becoming who you're meant to be.”
McDonald concluded her remarks with, “And
in that moment, I hear Tony Morrison's
words again, ‘You are your best
thing.’”
Each year at the Luncheon Seminar, HDRF
invites a psychiatrist and a
neuroscientist to speak on the featured
topic. This year, top psychiatrist Dr.
James Murrough, Director of the
Depression and Anxiety Center at Mount
Sinai, outlined the link between stress
and depression. Our stress response is
a natural surge in hormones that all
mammals experience when facing danger,
he said. In short bursts, stress keeps
us alive and functioning, but when
stress is low grade and chronic, it
leads to burn-out, and burn-out is the
first step to depression.
Dr. Murrough’s message was powerful:
depression is not a character flaw.
It’s a brain-based, medical illness that
changes how people feel joy, respond to
stress, and view themselves in the
world.
The takeaways from Dr. Murrough’s talk
were:
1. Depression is treatable - but not
always on the first try.
2. Stress
and depression are deeply linked - but
not everyone responds the same way.
3. Resilience is not fixed; it can be
trained.
4. Protect your relationships.
5. Challenge the negative story in your
head.
6. Community matters as much as
chemistry.
Dr. Murrough ended by asserting that we
can counterbalance stress through
outlook, optimism, and social support.
“All of these resilience factors
are part of a mental health treatment,
and also something you can work on in
your families and your everyday life,”
he said.
The next guest featured in the program
was top brain scientists Dr.
Huda Akil, Professor of Neuroscience and
Psychiatry at the University of Michigan and
a member of HDRF’s Depression Task
Force. Akil spoke about the concept
of “stress fitness,” or the ability to
anticipate, endure, and adapt to
challenges efficiently. She also
re-capped her lab’s work with college
freshmen, where they use advanced tools
to identify and prevent depression in
at-risk students. “Prevention must be
the next frontier,” she stressed.
HDRF Executive Director Louisa Benton then
took the podium to discuss HDRF’s
community outreach and education
efforts. She highlighted HDRF’s 10th Race
of Hope 5K in Southampton with Celebrity
Grand Marshal Alexa Ray Joel and the 7th Race
of Hope in Palm Beach, as well as
the Teen Race of Hope in NYC in May.
Elyse Arons, CEO of Frances Valentine, accepted
the 2025 Hope Corporate Visionary
Award. She said the cause was extremely
personal to her, since she lost her best
friend and business partner Kate Spade
to suicide in 2018. Arons and Spade
co-built the eponymous Kate Spade brand
as young women coming of age in New York
in the 1990’s and sold the company to
Neiman Marcus in 2006.
She said, “I try to honor her legacy in
everything we do at Frances Valentine.
Hope for Depression’s commitment to
advancing real science driven research
to creating tangible paths to healing is
vitally important, and I’m so proud to
support this organization.”
This year’s Event Co-Chairs include
Marchesa Barel di Sant’Albano, Danielle
& Ronald M. Bradley, Christina & Brian
Flaherty, Susan Gutfreund, Kim M.
Heirston, Tania Higgins, Eleanora
Kennedy, Kristen Maltese Krusen, Susan
R. McCaw, Kitty & Bill McKnight, Peter
S. Paine III, Barbara & Randall Smith,
and Scott Snyder.
Each year, the Luncheon is attended by
over 250 New York philanthropists, asset
managers, business and media
professionals, socialites, and
celebrities who gather to raise
awareness about depression and its
related mood disorders and to raise
funds for continued research.
Founder Sponsors: EGL
Charitable Foundation, Alina de Almeida
& John Paulson.
Benefactor Sponsors: Abraham
Fuchsberg Family Foundation, The
Richard S. and Karen T. LeFrak
Foundation, Barbara & Randall Smith,
Michael Spolan.
Diamond Sponsors: Maru
M. Hagerty, Tania Higgins, Kristen
Maltese Krusen, Privé-Swiss Retreat,
Thomas C. Quick, Teresa & James Remez,
and Barbera Hale Thornhill.
Patron Donors:
Marchesa Barel di Sant’ Albano, Danielle
& Ronald M. Bradley, Nancy & Edmund M.
Dunst / HUB International Northeast,
Christina & Brian Flaherty, Jamee &
Peter Gregory, Susan Gutfreund, Kim M.
Heirston, The Josephberg Family,
Eleanora Kennedy, Judy Lauder, Susan R.
McCaw, Kitty & Bill McKnight, Stephanie
Olmsted, Peter S. Paine III, and Scott
Snyder.
Friend Donors: Ana
Cristina Alvarado, Shelley Bergman,
Laura Louise Breyer, Eugenia Bullock,
Mary Ann Fribourg, Sam Lehrman, Susan
Lloyd, Jane & Richard Novick, Lynne M.
Wheat, and Victoria Wyman.
Gold Donors: Muffie
Potter Aston, Paola Bacchini, Barbara
Bancroft, Elizabeth K. Belfer, CeCe
Black, Geoffrey N. Bradfield, Janna
Bullock, Myron Cohen & Federman Steifman
LLP, Gus N. Davis, Marjorie & Alexander
Federbush, Frances & Jeff Fisher, Hilary
Geary Ross, Lionel Geneste, Joanna
Goldenstein, Lisa Granozio, Mai
Hallingby-Harrison, Hamilton Jewelers,
Karen Klopp, Laura Kontes Anes, Margo
Langenberg, Ginger & Larry Leeds, Kamie
Lightburn, Sharon H. Loeb, Geralyn
Lucas, Carol Mack, Christine Mack,
Marcia Mishaan, Diana Morrison, Sharon
Bush & Robert Murray, Margo Nederlander,
Anne Nordeman, Kathy Prounis, Barbara
Robinson, Frances G. Scaife, Ellen &
Chuck Scarborough, Nancy Schaffel, Jean
Shafiroff, Ginny & David Sydorick,
Amanda Taylor, Kari Tiedemann, Betsy &
Wallace Turner, Michelle Worth, Douglass
Wright, Clelia Zacharias, Richard
Ziegelasch, David Zislin and Silvia
Zoullas.
Gift Bag Sponsors: Badgley
Mischka, Compendium, Dr. Brandt
Skincare, Fishers Finery, Hamilton
Jewelers, Happiness Project, Hope
Fragrances, Jao, Lesser Evil, Privé-Swiss
Retreat.
ABOUT HOPE FOR DEPRESSION RESEARCH
FOUNDATION (HDRF)
HDRF was founded in 2006 by
philanthropist Audrey Gruss in memory of
her mother Hope, who struggled with
clinical depression. The mission of the
HDRF is to spur the most innovative
brain research into the origins, medical
diagnosis, new treatments, and
prevention of depression and its related
mood disorders – bipolar disorder,
postpartum depression, post-traumatic
stress disorder, anxiety disorder, and
suicide. The World Health Organization
has declared depression as the leading
cause of disability worldwide, and yet
conventional medications today are
outdated and do not fully work for 50%
of patients. HDRF is working tirelessly
to improve the mental health landscape
for every American. The Foundation has
provided more than $80 million for
breakthrough depression research that
promises to transform the way depression
is viewed, diagnosed, treated and
prevented. In 2012, HDRF created the
Depression Task Force, an international
collaboration of top neuroscientists
from different universities who are
compiling data and expertise to
accelerate research. HDRF has two
clinical trials underway for potential
novel antidepressants at Mount Sinai
Medical Center and Max Planck Institute
in Germany. Other clinical trials for
novel therapies are in the pipeline at
Columbia University and Weill Cornell.
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