NNDC 2019 Conference Wrap-Up!
It is hard to believe the NNDC Annual Conference was just three weeks ago! This year’s conference was held in Ann Arbor, Michigan (the home of the NNDC headquarters) and our theme was Mood Disorders in Transformation: Novel Approaches to Biology, Psychology, and Access to Care. If you attended the conference and witnessed an NNDC staff member hurrying about there was a good reason for all that hurrying—we broke many records this year!
- We had a record number of travel award recipients this year—13 Emerging Scholars were given scholarships to cover their travel expenses.
- There were more than 180 attendees who came for our two-day event!
- We had so many posters (50!) that, for the first time ever, we gave out two Best Poster Awards in the Basic Science category!
This year we also introduced two new sessions, both of which generated thoughtful and productive conversations with our members.
- On Tuesday September 24th, Dr. George Rust of Florida State University led an insightful session on Paths to Mental Health Equity.
- On Wednesday September 25th, Rob Vallentine, President of the Dow Chemical Company Foundation, and Dr. Mi Hillefors, Program Chief of the Translational Therapeutics Program at the NIMH, led a session on Tips for Preparing a Successful Grant Application. It was one of the best attended sessions all week!
Finally, we also had the honor of welcoming Dr. Mryna Weissman as our keynote speaker. Dr. Weissman hails from the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. Her keynote address focused on her work studying families with depression for more than 30 years. Dr. Weissman shared her generous wealth of experience, insight, and formidable wit with our conference attendees. In honor of her many contributions to the field our Founding Chair Dr. John Greden presented her with a Distinguished Keynote Speaker award following her talk.
Thank you to all of our generous sponsors, our program committee, our speakers, and all of you for attending another great conference. We’ll see you next year in Rochester, MN!
