Contact for Journalists Only:
Pam McDonnell
Director, Media Relations
NYU Medical Center Public Affairs
Tel: 212.404.3555
E-mail: Pamela.McDonnell@nyumc.org
Contact for Event Information:
Dr. Robert Cancro
Department of Psychiatry
Tel: 212-263-5744
OCT 11th – NYU Medical Center to Honor Mike Wallace
at Fundraiser for Mental Illness Prevention Center
September 22, 2006, New York, NY – NYU Medical Center will honor journalist Mike Wallace at a Twilight Cocktail Reception to raise money for NYU’s Mental Illness Prevention Center, Wednesday, October 11th at the Waldorf-Astoria 301 Park Avenue, between 49th and 50th Streets in Manhattan.
The event, which is business attire, begins at 6:30 p.m. with music, dancing, hors d’oeurves, and an open bar, along with a silent auction. The program portion of the event begins at 7:15 p.m. with a presentation by Dr. Robert Cancro, Chairman Emeritus of the Department of Psychiatry at the NYU School of Medicine, and Mr. Wallace, who will speak about his own struggles with depression and his suicide attempt. According to Dr. Cancro, Mr. Wallace’s outspokenness about his experience with severe depression has helped destigmatize mental illness. The program concludes with the showing of a 12-minute film hosted by Mr. Wallace, entitled Mental Illness: The Last Frontier.
The event is co-hosted by Dr. Cancro, Mary Yates, Mike Wallace’s wife and Dr. Jeffrey Borenstein, the CEO and Medical Director of Holliswood Hospital in Queens, NY. Honorary committee members include Mr. Wallace’s son TV journalist Chris Wallace of Fox News; his daughter, Pauline Wallace Dora; legendary singer/entertainer Neil Sedaka; Oscar-winning producer Marty Richards; documentary film maker Albert Maysles; Sirio Maccioni of Le Cirque; NYC financier and philanthropist Jonathan Farkas; producer and author Sonny Grasso; jazz pianist George Shearing; and Carson Kressley of TV’s “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.”
Individual tickets are $300; and premiere table seating is $1,000 per person. All proceeds will go to MIPC to fund research focused on earlier detection and improved treatment for mental illness. NYU’s Mental Illness Prevention Center is conducting groundbreaking research to identify pathophysiologic markers of mental diseases and developing public and professional education programs to destigmatize depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and schizophrenia.
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