Newswise — The University of Michigan Depression Center has received a $10 million gift from Mr. and Mrs. Edwin E. Meader of Kalamazoo, Mich., to support the construction of the nation's first building devoted primarily to research, clinical care, education, and community and public policy programs for depression and related disorders.
The gift is the largest received by the U-M Health System in several years. It follows on previous support by the Meaders for the Depression Center, the U-M Medical School's departments of Psychiatry and Ophthalmology, and other areas of the U-M. Last week, the University announced a gift of $8 million from the Meaders for the Kelsey Museum of Archeology.
This Thursday, U-M leaders will seek the approval of the U-M Board of Regents to name the building that will house the Center in honor of Mrs. Meader, whose maiden name was Rachel Mary Upjohn.
That's also the name of her grandmother, the first wife of William E. Upjohn, M.D., a U-M Medical School alumnus in the late 19th century and the inventor of the first pill that dissolved easily in the human body. W.E. Upjohn co-founded, with his brothers, the Upjohn Company, a pharmaceutical industry powerhouse of the 20th century.
If the Regents approve the naming, the Rachel Upjohn Building will stand as a physical testament to the Meaders' longtime commitment to the U-M, and as a unifying location for the Depression Center's pioneering efforts to understand and fight depressive illnesses that affect more than 20 million Americans and their families.
"We are humbled by this expression of support for our progress in developing a dedicated center that focuses on depressive and bipolar illnesses. This is an incredibly generous gift," says John Greden, M.D., executive director of the Depression Center and chair of the Department of Psychiatry. "Each day, we will honor the Meaders and their family through the innovation and discovery that this building will enable." Greden holds the Rachel Upjohn Professorship in Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, endowed by the Meaders in 1997.
Mr. Meader, in a recent letter, wrote, "Dr. William Upjohn had the caring for humanity, the imagination, persistence and genius for organization which created for his employees, his family, his community a flow of wealth still reaching out across this nation immeasurably. One could wish he knew about the Depression Center."
Ground for the 112,500 square-foot building will be broken later this year, pending approval by the U-M Regents. They are being asked to vote on the building's architectural design this Thursday. The building will also house outpatient psychiatry and substance abuse programs, and will be conveniently located on the Health System's East Ann Arbor Properties, on Plymouth Road at Earhart Road.
Designed by Albert Kahn Associates, it is scheduled for completion in 2006 as part of a $38 million building project that includes site improvements and parking lot construction, as well as the building. The building will connect with the East Ann Arbor Health Center.
In addition to the Meaders' naming gift, the Depression Center has received more than $6.5 million in other gifts and grants supporting the building's construction. This includes a $2 million gift from local business leader Phil Jenkins, a $500,000 gift from the FRIENDS of the University Hospitals and Health Centers, and a $4 million grant from the National Center for Research Resources, part of the National Institutes of Health, to support the construction of the building's 45,433 gross square-foot research area.
The Meaders' other gifts to the U-M Department of Psychiatry have supported research on depression and related disorders. They endowed the Rachel Upjohn Clinical Scholars Award program, which supports research training of young investigators studying depressive illnesses, genetics and links to pain. The Meaders have funded Greden's research with a $1 million gift.
They have also supported the Kellogg Eye Center and the Department of Ophthalmology, the U-M School of Music, the University Musical Society, educational programs in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts, and the Kelsey Archaeological Museum.
With the all-in-one multidisciplinary design of the new Depression Center and Ambulatory Psychiatry facility, more patients suffering from depression and related bipolar and anxiety disorders will be able to receive coordinated care from U-M teams from across the campus.
Since depression tends to occur in recurrent episodes across a life span, the facility will provide an environment that integrates child, adolescent, adult and geriatric programs. The project will also enable improved integration of treatment for outpatients with other psychiatric conditions, such as anxiety, panic attacks, phobias, substance use and attention deficit disorders.
The new clinical facility will create a warm, bright atmosphere through its use of natural light, open space and an easy-to-navigate layout. The building plans include an auditorium for use by patients, visitors, faculty, staff, and community organizations, as well as a patient education center.
By bringing together and expanding the University's wide range of coordinated patient care services and its extensive, world-class clinical research efforts, the new facility will increase research, education, training for health care professionals and community members. In all, it will allow U-M to advance the field of depression and related disorders on all fronts.
Eighteen U-M academic units, programs and institutes participate in the center's clinical, research and education efforts. These include the Medical School, the schools of Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health, Public Policy, Social Work, Business, Dentistry, Art & Design, Rackham Graduate Studies, and Literature, Science and the Arts; the Division of Kinesiology; the Institute for Social Research, the Institute for Research on Women and Gender, the Life Sciences Institute, the Substance Abuse Research Center; Center on Poverty, Risk, and Mental Health; and the University Health Service.
Within the U-M Health System, the Depression Center collaborates with 37 centers, programs, and medical disciplines. Some of these are Anesthesiology, Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine, Human Genetics, Internal Medicine, Neurology, Nursing, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases, Pharmacology, Psychiatry and Psychology, Bioinformatics, the Cardiovascular Center, the Center for the Advancement of Clinical Research; the Center for Human Growth and Development, the Center for Integrative Genomics, the Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Cardiovascular Center, the Mental Health Research Institute, the Michigan Human Genome Center, the Turner Geriatrics Center, and the Women's Health Program.
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