{"id":18146,"date":"2025-03-31T18:40:30","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T18:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rcourihay.com\/?p=18146"},"modified":"2026-03-13T20:16:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T20:16:04","slug":"jean-shafiroff-fashioning-a-better-world-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rcourihay.com\/staging\/audrey-gruss\/","title":{"rendered":"Audrey Gruss: A Philanthropist on a Mission"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you meet her or read one of the many articles about her, Audrey Gruss appears to be polished, poised and proper. While these surface characteristics are accurate, the depth of her heart and soul, and commitment to helping others runs vast and deep.\u00a0Her hope to make life better for millions of people across the globe is simply breathtaking.\u00a0Her story begins with her late mother, Hope, who suffered from depression for decades. Audrey, her\u00a0two\u00a0sisters and her father witnessed first-hand the intense battle her mother fought throughout the years \u2013 psychic pain, misdiagnosis, trials of medications, side effects and so much more. Depression affects over 18 million adults in any given year and us the leading cause of disability worldwide. Severe depression is even rated in the same disability category as terminal stage cancer. So when her mother passed in 2005,\u00a0Audrey vowed to work tirelessly towards \u201cconquering this dreaded illness\u201d and make finding a cure her personal mission.<\/p>\n

Audrey & Martin Gruss Foundation\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h4>\n

A year later Audrey established the Hope for Depression Research Foundation (HDRF), a non-profit organization with a mission to fund pioneering international scientific research into the origins, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of depression and its related mood and other emotional disorders, with the goal of finding a cure. Audrey has served as the Chairman of HDRF since its inception.\u00a0She\u2019s also the President of the Audrey and Martin Gruss Foundation, which she and her husband Martin established thirty years ago to support the cultural arts. The couple also funded the Audrey and Martin Gruss Heart and Stroke Center at Southampton Hospital.<\/p>\n

Depression Task Force <\/strong><\/h4>\n

What\u2019s unique about\u00a0HDRF\u2019s research program is that they not only fund research, but they also created their own research group by hand-selecting several doctors who collectively work with the non-profit on strategy, development, and implementation.\u00a0\u201cWe had to create our own research team because what we envisioned did not exist.\u00a0\u00a0Our Depression Task\u00a0Force works collaboratively \u2013 they put all their data into the Hope Data Center at the University of Michigan and that data is shared among the doctors at HDRF \u2013 the ones that do the research. That\u2019s really a very hard thing to do,\u201d Audrey says. \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0as though we are created our own mini neuroscience center,\u201d she adds.\u00a0Since its start, HDRF has also awarded 104 research grants at 48 research institutions in 12 countries and 18 U.S. cities. hopefordepression.org<\/p>\n

Developing an Alternative to Prozac<\/strong><\/h4>\n

And the research is paying off.\u00a0Audrey continues to explain that \u201cthe HDRF doctors are now creating a version of a new category of anti-depressant that is completely new,\u00a0since Prozac was introduced 35 years ago.\u201d This was after only eight years of the HDRF doctors being brought together in this mission.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThis is remarkable in the world of neuroscience. This usually takes decades,\u201d adds Audrey.\u00a0\u00a0She goes on to say that HDRF did not create\u00a0something brand new.\u00a0They found an existing drug that has not been approved in the U.S. which they made a\u00a0patented\u00a0version\u00a0of\u00a0and it\u2019s in clinical trials at Columbia University and Mount Sinai.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a fact that better medication to help with depression is desperately needed.\u00a0\u00a0Studies today estimate that up to 35-50 percent of people suffering from depression do not positively respond to existing antidepressant medications called SSRIs, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.<\/p>\n

5K Race of Hope<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In addition to the Week of Hope, in which business round the Hamptons show their support for the fight against depression, Audrey Gruss and her organization also host a 5k Race of Hope. This year will mark their sixth annual Race of Hope to Defeat Depression in Southampton Village. Candace Bushnell, author, journalist, and the creator of the bestselling Sex and the City anthology, will attend as this year\u2019s celebrity Grand Marshall to cheer on the race\u2019s participants and lead them on a beautiful 5K (3.1 mile) loop around Lake Agawam in Southampton Village.\u00a0The Race is open to all ages and speeds and walkers are also welcome. The Race of Hope has raised over $1 million for research since its inception in 2016.\u00a0raceofhopeseries.com<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you meet her or read one of the many articles about her, Audrey Gruss appears to be polished, poised and proper. While these […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18147,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1924,1984],"tags":[424,426,425,386,427],"class_list":["post-18146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities","category-philanthropists","tag-audrey-gruss","tag-depression-research","tag-hope-for-depression-research-foundation","tag-new-york","tag-philanthrophy"],"acf":{"full_width":false,"header_transparent":false,"header_white":false},"yoast_head":"\nAudrey Gruss: A Philanthropist on a Mission - R. Couri Hay<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When you meet her or read one of the many articles about her, Audrey Gruss appears to be polished, poised and proper. 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