Media Advisory

Thursday, September 27, 2007

NIDA Director Among Featured Speakers at The Aspen Health Forum Panel: “The Emerging Science of Mood — Understanding Depression and Mania”

Dr. Nora D. Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), will join more than 125 world-class medical scientists and innovators in health care and policy at the inaugural session of The Aspen Health Forum. As a featured panel speaker for the "Art of Humanity and Medicine" meeting track, Dr. Volkow will discuss the brain's reward circuitry and how it relates to the emerging science of mood. The forum, organized by the Aspen Institute and The Atlantic magazine, will explore pressing bioscience issues and shed light on cutting-edge scientific findings to improve the health of the Nation.

What:

The Aspen Health Forum — "The Emerging Science of Mood"

When:

Friday, October 5, 2007
4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Where:

Aspen Meadows Resort and Conference Center
845 Meadows Road
Aspen, CO 81611

Who:

Featured Speakers from NIDA:
Dr. Nora D. Volkow, Director, NIDA

Other Featured Speakers:
Dr. Daniel Weinberger, Senior Investigator, National Institute of Mental Health
Dr. Alan Leshner, CEO, American Association for the Advancement of Science

Info:

Tracks covered during The Aspen Health Forum:

  • The Art and Humanity of Medicine
  • State of the Art Medical Science — The Critical Research You May Not Have Heard of but Need to Know
  • Frontiers in Medicine — What's on the Horizon
  • From the Lab to You — How Hard Science Becomes Health Care
  • Science and Prevention — What Can You and Should You be Doing to Enhance Your Health
  • International Science

A full agenda and speaker list is available at:
http://www.aspeninstitute.org/site/c.huLWJeMRKpH/b.3125245/k.B73E/Agenda.htm

The Aspen Health Forum news release is available at:
http://www.aspeninstitute.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=huLWJeMRKpH&b=2463765&ct=4438591

The National Institute on Drug Abuse is a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIDA supports most of the world's research on the health aspects of drug abuse and addiction. The Institute carries out a large variety of programs to inform policy and improve practice. Fact sheets on the health effects of drugs of abuse and information on NIDA research and other activities can be found on the NIDA home page at www.drugabuse.gov.

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) mission is to reduce the burden of mental and behavioral disorders through research on mind, brain, and behavior. More information is available at the NIMH website, http://www.nimh.nih.gov.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health®

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