Three major gifts give boost to Depression Center campaign




Updated 3:00 PM March 03, 2003
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Three major gifts give boost to Depression Center campaign

Three major gifts to the Medical School will be used to propel a vital new component of the U-M Health System: a world-class center devoted to treating depression and understanding its underlying causes. The U-M Depression Center will benefit from these recent gifts donated by philanthropists Tom and Nancy Woodworth, the family of Todd Ouida, and Dexter businessman Phil Jenkins. Together, the gifts total $4.25 million.

Tom and Nancy Woodworth. (Photo courtesy Depression Center)

"This is a thrilling and gratifying development," says Dr. John Greden, the Rachel Upjohn Professor of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience in the Medical School, chair of the Department of Psychiatry and senior research scientist at the U-M Mental Health Institute. "The Depression Center at Michigan is dedicated to being a leader in the study and treatment of depressive illnesses and to forging a new public policy toward this disorder. That these three families have come on board in support of this endeavor truly demonstrates that the tide has turned, and that depression is now being addressed as a chronic disease like diabetes. This extraordinary support just brings us closer to effective treatments for this devastating disease."

For Nancy Woodworth, the decision to support depression research at Michigan was made after reading an interview with Greden in "Medicine at Michigan," a publication of the Medical School Development Office. "All of a sudden we knew that this was the project in which our family should be involved," she says. "We want to see this out in the open. What I care about the most is not any recognition for ourselves, but spreading the word about the Depression Center and getting people to realize that this is a disease that needs all of the help and support it can get."

Todd Ouida with his niece and goddaughter, Ashley Jordan Morik. (Photo courtesy family of Todd Ouida)

The benefactors were interested in the fact that the Depression Center will utilize all facets of Michigan's Health System and the excellent academic resources found throughout the University, including the latest imaging technology and other diagnostic tools and the scientific collaboration that characterizes Michigan's traditions.

Adds Woodworth, whose family has a long history of philanthropy to Michigan: "I thought, isn't it wonderful that this center will enable all the branches of the Medical School and the University to work together to find an answer."

The Woodworth gift will fund an endowed professorship to further research related to bipolar disorder and depression.

For the family of Ouida, a U-M alumnus who was killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, the gift to the Depression Center has a personal genesis. As a child, Ouida suffered from an anxiety disorder. With regular psychiatric treatment and increasing maturity, he overcame these anxieties and went on to earn a degree in psychology from U-M, a school he greatly loved. Ouida worked for Cantor Fitzgerald at the time of his death.

"The Todd Ouida Clinical Scholars Award will support new research on the genetic, biological and psychosocial factors contributing to childhood anxiety disorders and the development of more effective treatments," says Dr. Gregory Hanna, associate professor in the Medical School and director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. The gift also will fund the annual Todd Ouida Lecture in Childhood Anxiety and Depression.

Phil Jenkins. (Photo by Gregory Fox)

Jenkins, founder of the Dexter-based Sweepster Inc., feels strongly about the toll depression takes on people. "I see it everywhere. It's an insidious thing," he says. "There's a stigma, and we've got to get over that. I feel good about this gift for one reason: John Greden. I believe in him. Let's cure depression."

Jenkins' gift will be used to help build the Depression Center facilitya place designed as an intersection of research, clinical care, education and an environment of hope.

Once constructed, the Depression Center will be the first comprehensive research and treatment facility in the United States devoted to depressive illnesses. "One of our goals for the center is to diminish the stigma of depression. Other disorders, like cancer, were stigmatized in the past," Greden says. "Now we have a national network of 21 cancer centers. Ten years from now, I hope we will have a national network of depression centers; it is our goal to catalyze this trend with our initiative at Michigan."

Three major gifts give boost to Depression Center campaign

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