AMERICAN SUICIDE FOUNDATION AWARDS EMORY TWO-YEAR INSTITUTIONAL BLOCK GRANT

Feb. 21, 1996
Media Contact: Sarah Goodwin at 404/727-5686, e-mail: sgoodwi@emory.edu

The American Suicide Foundation has awarded Emory University a two-year institutional grant totaling $50,000. Reunette W. Harris Professor and chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Charles B. Nemeroff, M.D., Ph.D., will serve as both principal investigator and chair of an Emory committee.

The following faculty have already received awards: Zachary N. Stowe, M.D., who will be studying suicidality in post- partum depression, William McDonald, M.D., who is interested in suicidality in the nursing home population and Robert Agnew, Ph.D., who is conducting a social- psychological analysis of suicide.

Since the American Suicide Foundation was established nine years ago, the suicide rate of young men has tripled and that of young women has doubled. Suicide is now the second major cause of death among high school and college students. It is even more frequent in older adults. The highest rates are among men over 50.

The Foundation may be reached nationally at 1-800-ASF-4042 for general information on suicide as well as information on Foundation programs. One of the groups' 10 chapters is located in Atlanta and may be accessed through the Southeast Chapter at 404/250-0159.

Institutions currently funded by the Foundation include Harvard University, Columbia University, University of Pittsburgh, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the University of Texas at Galveston.

Dr. Nemeroff is an expert in the field of biological psychiatry with a specific interest in the psychobiology of affective (mood) disorders and of suicide.

For more general information on The Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center, call Health Sciences News and Information at 404-727-5686, or send e-mail to hsnews@emory.edu.