With the support of gifts to the MGH Fund, Mass General is able to provide researchers with the funding they need to search for new cures and treatments, both in the lab and in the field.
Supporting Research Into a Cure for AIDS
The ultimate public health goal in South Africa, and other nations where AIDS continues to spread, is the development of an effective vaccine. That is why Bruce Walker, MD, director of the Partners AIDS Research Center at Mass General, initiated collaborative research in Africa more than 15 years ago.
“We were getting on airplanes here in Boston, where AIDS is being successfully managed, and landing in South Africa, where the disease is a death sentence,” says Dr. Walker. “We were learning things in Africa, and we felt strongly that we needed to give something back.”
The researchers’ relationship with South Africa has grown tremendously, thanks to the generous philanthropic support of many individuals who have made gifts directly to the MGH, and to the David Brudnoy Fund for AIDS Research at the hospital.
Finding Novel Treatments for Depression
There are many reasons the Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Psychiatry has ranked as the best in the United States for 13 years in a row by US News & World Report. Andrew Nierenberg, MD, is one of those reasons. MGH Fund donors like you are another.
Dr. Nierenberg understands that your unrestricted gift has an impact, and that is why he recently addressed a gathering of MGH Fund supporters. He shared current research on stress, depression and the ways in which we are capable of producing new brain cells even as adults.
“We used to believe that the brain you have at six months is the brain you have for life,” Dr. Nierenberg said. “But research has shown that your brain is constantly changing. Your brain can make new cells throughout your life.”
But just because you continuously produce new cells, this does not necessarily mean you always do. The process itself does slow or even stop in some people.
“When your body creates nervous tissue such as brain cells, we call that process neurogenesis,” explained Dr. Nierenberg. “But if you are a person who is vulnerable to stress or depression, neurogenesis gets inhibited. You don’t produce new cells at the same rate.”
Take steps to relieve and avoid the damaging effects of stress and depression in your own life. For example, increase social activities with friends and family, and exercise more. Research has proven that regular exercise promotes neurogenesis.
As Dr. Nierenberg and his Mass General colleagues test new approaches that could benefit people young and old, they need your support. The gift you make to the MGH Fund today could make all the difference for people facing depression and countless other diseases.
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Your gift of any amount will open new doors in outstanding patient care, research, clinical education and community outreach at Mass General.
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