Cure Alliance for Mental Illness

Research Priorities at NIMH

May 052013

by Robin Cunningham On February 8, 2013, I attended the National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) Alliance for Research Progress Meeting held at NIMH Headquarters in the Neuroscience Center, Rockville, MD. The purpose of these semi-annual meetings is to assist advocacy organizations in staying abreast of current and on-going research into the causes, treatments, prevention and cures for the various brain disorders, including mental illnesses, for which they advocate. The organizations at the meeting represent a wide array of brain disorders, but Cure Alliance for Mental Illness was the only non-profit in attendance that focuses its efforts entirely on advocating [read more]

May 5, 2013

Schizophrenia: Change is Afoot . . .

Apr 052013

I was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1956 at thirteen years of age and have lived successfully with this brain disorder for well over 50 years. Many members of my father’s family had schizophrenia, but I was the first to receive “best practice treatment” over the entire course of my illness, consisting of early intervention, continuity of treatment, medications, and cognitive therapy. This comprehensive treatment approach is rarely available to people with schizophrenia even now. By most standards, I have been successful in my life, particularly in my business career, where I have held senior executive positions with a number of [read more]

April 5, 2013 research, schizophrenia

The American Brain Coalition

Mar 152013

Cure Alliance for Mental Illness has just become a member of the American Brain Coalition. The ABC is a non-profit organization that seeks to advance the understanding of the functions of the brain, and to reduce the burden of brain disorders through public advocacy. The goals of the ABC are very similar to Cure Alliance’s goals, with a broader general focus on the brain. The coalition advocates for: Research funding and progress towards a cure Building a healthcare system more responsive to people with both acute and chronic brain disorders Advancing public understanding about the cause, impact, and consequences of [read more]

March 15, 2013

Cure Alliance in Washington

Mar 072013

Cure Alliance co-founder Hakon Heimer has been appointed to the National Advisory Mental Health Council by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius. The council advises the HHS secretary, the National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Director Tom Insel on all policies and activities relating to the conduct and support of mental health research, research training and other programs of the NIMH. The group is composed of mental health experts from different professions, and meets in Washington, D.C., three times each year. Heimer will serve a four-year [read more]

March 7, 2013

Kennedy’s Message on Mental Illness: 50 Years Later

Feb 042013

“We must act to bestow the full benefits of our society on those who suffer from mental disabilities.” John F. Kennedy, 1963 When John F. Kennedy was a young man, his sister Rosemary, age 23, was given a lobotomy. Rosemary was thought to be mentally retarded, and had also developed behavioral problems—mood swings, violent temper tantrums—as she became a young adult. The lobotomy was a disaster. The previously lively Rosemary spent the rest of her long life in an institution, mentally and physically incapacitated. This experience no doubt motivated President Kennedy to send his “Special Message to the Congress on [read more]

February 4, 2013

Conversational Caffeine

Feb 022013

by Hakon Heimer On Thursday, Robin and I were guests at the first ever MentaLatte MeetUp for Cures, at the Stone Creek Bar and Restaurant in the Murray Hill neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan. (See the photos here.) The MentaLatte MeetUp event was the brainchild of newly arrived New Yorker Elliott Koch and recently relocated Mirna Kvajo. (Congratulations to Mirna on her new job in Boston at Cell Press!) The idea behind the MentaLatte events is to get us talking about mental illness, normalizing it so that we can be open about autism or schizophrenia or anxiety disorders in the same [read more]

February 2, 2013

Cure Alliance Petition for Mental Illness Research

Dec 292012

Cure Alliance has started a petition asking the President and Congress of the U.S. to fund research in mental illness. The violent tragedies over the past year have sparked numerous petitions calling for improved treatment and services for mental illness. Cure Alliance is the sole voice calling for more research to find cures for mental illness. We call on the President and Congress of the United States to ensure that mental illnesses get the research attention they deserve. Without adequate resources, scientists will not find better treatments and cures to stop mental illness at the outset. Read the rest and [read more]

December 29, 2012

30,000 Brain Scientists!

Nov 142012

By Robin Cunningham On Thursday, October 11, Hakon Heimer and I flew from Providence, RI and Pennington, NJ, respectively, to New Orleans for the annual conference of the Society for Neuroscience (Neuroscience 2012). Hakon attends each year in his capacity as editor of Schizophrenia Research Forum, to gather the latest news on brain research, but for me it was an eye-opening, first-time experience. A huge conference The annual Neuroscience conference is the biggest deal in the brain world. More than 30,000 researchers and sundry others involved in neuroscience come from all over. There are only a few convention centers in [read more]

November 14, 2012

Nationwide in 50 Days!

Oct 152012

Over the summer, Cure Alliance for Mental Illness challenged our social network to help us put one of our oval car magnets—Cure BP, Cure SZ, Cure DEP, or Cure OCD—in each of the United States. We called it 50-50-50: 50 magnets, 50 states, in 50 days. We asked people to send us a photo of their car with a Cure magnet on it, and we’ve been posting those to our Facebook page. With some help publicizing the campaign from our friends at PeaceLove Studios—an expressive arts organization—we succeeded! Cure Alliance even managed to send magnets to Hawaii and Alaska, with [read more]

October 15, 2012

Looking for Hope in the City of Angels

Jul 302012

By Hakon Heimer Los Angeles: the place for people with dreams, where a few succeed and many work in restaurants. Robin Cunningham and I flew to Los Angeles recently to join the dreamers: we dream of a world where disorders of the brain that affect thought and emotion are accorded the respect that other illnesses receive. Much of our first two days was spent at the annual meeting of the One Mind for Research Campaign, and we also visited with other advocates for people with mental illness in Los Angeles. Soldiers as the vanguard against brain disorders After a long [read more]

July 30, 2012

Older Entries