Treating depression requires a multifaceted approach
Civic EngagementChancellor Block and other experts joined a Zócalo/UCLA discussion on depression and the efforts UCLA is undertaking to better diagnose and treat it. The event, which was held Dec. 11, also featured Darcy Gruttadaro, director of the American Psychiatric Foundation’s Center for Workplace Mental Health; Jonathan Flint, a UCLA behavioral geneticist and expert in the genetic determinants of depression; Rhonda Robinson Beale, a psychiatrist and chief medical officer at Blue Cross of Idaho; and moderator Anna Gorman, senior correspondent, Kaiser Health News.
“It’s multifaceted, the issues of depression, and so it certainly has immersed our school from a research perspective,” said Block, adding that although UCLA is a research institution it is also an employer and home to students. “So we really feel that not only can we learn about this and hopefully provide some cures more broadly, but we also help our own community as well.”
In 2015, UCLA announced its plan to raise the profile of depression on national and international research agendas by launching the Depression Grand Challenge, an effort that brings together 100 researchers from 25 departments with a common goal to cut the health and economic implications of depression in half by 2050.