Representatives of the Yale Department of Psychiatry gathered at The Yale Club of New York City on October 10 to celebrate the establishment of the John and Hope Furth Professorship of Psychiatric Neuroscience.
The Furths created the endowed professorship with a $3 million gift, and Hilary Blumberg, MD, was appointed the inaugural professor. The Furths and Blumberg share an interest in determining the causes of mental illness in children and the development of effective treatments.
The gathering in New York was attended by the Furths and Blumberg, family members and supporters, and Yale representatives, including Robert J. Alpern, MD, Dean of the Yale School of Medicine, and John H. Krystal, MD, professor of neuroscience and Chair of the Yale Department of Psychiatry.
Blumberg is director of the Mood Disorders Research Program (MDRP) at Yale. The program brings together a multi-disciplinary group of scientists to study the genetic factors, and environmental factors such as early life stress, that underlie the development of brain differences in mood disorders. The MDRP is regarded internationally as a leading laboratory in the effort to develop new methods for early detection of mood disorders, more effective interventions, and prevention.
Blumberg's research focuses on understanding the causes that underlie mood disorders, including bipolar disorder and depression, especially their development in adolescence and young adulthood, changes in their expression across the lifespan, and their associated high risk of suicide.
She employs multiple brain scanning techniques to study brain circuitry abnormalities. She was one of the first researchers to demonstrate differences during mania in adults with bipolar disorder in prefrontal cortex functioning, and in adolescents with bipolar disorder in the amygdala, a part of the brain important in emotional processing.
The Furths have long supported Yale financially and through service. John Furth, of the Yale Class of 1952, has served on numerous boards for the university. The Furths were instrumental in the creation and growth of the Yale President's Public Service Fellowships, and they created the John L. and Hope L. Furth Fund for the Public Service Fellowship in 1992. John Furth established a charitable remainder trust for the Department of Psychiatry in 2012 in honor of his 40th reunion.