On May 18, 2015, The Hersh Foundation announced a $5 million lead gift to Southwestern Medical Foundation to help establish the Center for Depression Research and Clinical Care at UT Southwestern Medical Center, as well as to endow the Julie K. Hersh Chair in Depression Research and Clinical Care. The goal of the Center is to accelerate new discoveries into the causes and treatment of depression, bipolar, and related conditions.

The new Center, led by Dr. Madhukar Trivedi, Professor of Psychiatry and Chief of the Division of Mood Disorders at UT Southwestern, will take a comprehensive approach to:

• Detecting illness at an earlier and more treatable stage through the study of biomarkers, treatment options, and delivery methods;
• Developing a more scientific method for personalized treatment, directing patients quickly to the best portfolio of treatment; and
• Providing leading-edge care for treatment-resistant mood disorders.

Founded in 1997 by Julie and Ken Hersh, the Hersh Foundation promotes mental health and cultivates future leaders through investments in organizations primed to create quantum-shift change. Julie Hersh, President of the Hersh Foundation, boldly detailed her struggles with depression in her book, Struck By Living: From Depression to Hope, and became a national advocate to highlight the need to better understand depression. She published her insights in the Journal of Medical Ethics and is an active member of the Patient Advisory Council for the International Society of ECT and Neurostimulation.