Date: 2009-07-13
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Minimizing suicide risks for any of the 5.7 million Americans with bipolar disorder can pose a serious challenge. Maria A. Oquendo, M.D., a national expert on suicidal behaviors in bipolar patients, will discuss risks and prevention measures as part of the Third Annual Heinz C. Prechter Bipolar Research Fund Lecture at the University of Michigan Depression Center.
(Media-Newswire.com) - ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Minimizing suicide risks for any of the 5.7 million Americans with bipolar disorder can pose a serious challenge. Maria A. Oquendo, M.D., a national expert on suicidal behaviors in bipolar patients, will discuss risks and prevention measures as part of the Third Annual Heinz C. Prechter Bipolar Research Fund Lecture at the University of Michigan Depression Center.
The lecture is free and open to the public, and will take place at noon on Friday, July 10 at the University of Michigan Depression Center.
Oquendo is a professor of Clinical Psychiatry, vice chair for education, residency training director, and director of clinical studies in molecular imaging and neuropathology at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University.
Her areas of expertise include suicidal behavior and the diagnosis, pharmacologic treatment, and neurobiology of Bipolar Disorder and Major Depression, as well as Cross Cultural Psychiatry.
The lecture series is named for automotive pioneer Heinz C. Prechter, whose life was cut short by Bipolar disorder in 2001. The lecture is one of several initiatives created by Heinz Prechter’s wife Waltraud "Wally" Prechter after his death.
Another is the world’s largest private Bipolar genetics repository housed at the U-M Depression Center, which contains DNA samples from people with Bipolar disorder and from others without the disease who act as comparison subjects. Launched at U-M in 2005, the repository is a collaboration of U-M scientists and colleagues from Stanford, Cornell University and the Johns Hopkins University.
The series is sponsored by Comerica Inc., Chrysler Corp., Dearborn Sausage Company, the General Motors Foundation, Neiman-Marcus, Scott Snow Financial Services and Ernst & Young.
For more information on the Prechter Fund and Genetic Repository, or to donate to support the research project, visit www.prechterfund.org. To learn more about the need for volunteers for the genetics project, call toll-free, 1-877-UM-GENES.