Morgan Stanley Announces $1.3 Million Grant to Columbia University Department of Psychiatry

Funding will support research to better understand and address the impact of COVID-19 on children’s mental health

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Morgan Stanley today announced a grant of $1.3 million to the Columbia University Department of Psychiatry at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons to advance children’s mental health research in an effort to raise awareness, drive innovation, and inform intervention strategies and actions. This funding will support Columbia University’s scientific research to better understand and address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s mental health, with a focus on vulnerable communities that traditionally lack access to care. Specific research areas include the impact of telehealth treatment, use of innovative technology to assess adolescent depression, and the impact of COVID-19 and digital technology use on Latinx youth’s mental health. This research collaboration will generate scientific findings, inform solutions, help improve access to care, and foster social equality.

“At Morgan Stanley, we are committed to leveraging our global reach and ongoing dedication to our communities to help address the challenge of children’s mental health,” said Ted Pick, Head of Institutional Securities, Morgan Stanley. “Now more than ever, we need coordinated efforts to keep the global crisis in children’s mental health from escalating.”

This is a significant development for the Morgan Stanley Alliance for Children’s Mental Health (the “Alliance”), which was launched in February 2020 to bring together key leaders in the children’s mental health space and combine the resources and reach of Morgan Stanley and its Foundation with the knowledge and experience of distinguished nonprofit member organizations. Columbia University has joined the Alliance to support its thought leadership program and help strategically address children’s mental health concerns.

“We are excited to welcome Columbia University to the Alliance for Children’s Mental Health to promote thought leadership in this space,” said Joan Steinberg, Global Head of Philanthropy, President of the Morgan Stanley Foundation, and Chair of the Alliance, Morgan Stanley. “Through breakthrough scientific research, we have furthered our commitment to investing in children’s mental health and enabling access to care. We believe that the Alliance for Children’s Mental Health will help generate more evidence-based solutions and make a lasting impact on children’s mental health, especially among vulnerable communities.”

Jeffrey A. Lieberman, MD, the Lawrence C. Kolb Professor and Chair, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Psychiatrist-in-Chief at Columbia NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and Director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, said, “Columbia Psychiatry is uniquely positioned to address these issues through groundbreaking research, and we are extremely grateful to Morgan Stanley for their visionary support to effect change and progress in an area of shared interest and priority: the mental health and well-being of children across the globe, particularly in this time of crisis.”

“The COVID-19 pandemic will be accompanied by a wave of mental health consequences for children, adolescents, and families. Unfortunately, these mental health sequelae are super-imposed upon the long-standing and persistent problems of racial and social injustice,” said Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele, MD, Director of the Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and the NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital. “We are grateful to be working with Morgan Stanley and the Alliance for Children’s Mental Health to address this confluence of crises, with our long-standing research efforts on intergenerational predictors of risk and resilience in marginalized communities, as well as our active research on low-cost screening, engagement and treatment using telehealth and innovative technology.”

About Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) is a leading global financial services firm providing investment banking, securities, wealth management, and investment management services. With offices in more than 41 countries, the Firm's employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments, institutions and individuals. For more information about Morgan Stanley, please visit www.morganstanley.com.

About Morgan Stanley Alliance for Children's Mental Health

The Morgan Stanley Alliance for Children's Mental Health brings together key leaders in the children's mental health space and combines the resources and reach of Morgan Stanley and its Foundation with the knowledge and experience of its distinguished nonprofit partner organizations. The Alliance helps strategically address children's mental health concerns and the far-reaching challenges of stress, anxiety and depression. For more information about the Alliance, visit www.morganstanley.com/mentalhealthalliance.

About Columbia University Department of Psychiatry

The Columbia University Department of Psychiatry is among the top-ranked psychiatry departments in the nation and has contributed greatly to the understanding and treatment of brain disorders. Co-located at the New York State Psychiatric Institute on the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center campus in Washington Heights, the department enjoys a rich and productive collaborative relationship with physicians in various disciplines at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Columbia Psychiatry is home to distinguished clinicians and researchers noted for their clinical and research advances in the diagnosis and treatment of depression, suicide, schizophrenia, bipolar and anxiety disorders, eating disorders, substance use disorders, and childhood psychiatric disorders.

Columbia University Irving Medical Center provides international leadership in basic, preclinical, and clinical research; medical and health sciences education; and patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, public health professionals, dentists, and nurses at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. Columbia University Irving Medical Center is home to the largest medical research enterprise in New York City and State and one of the largest faculty medical practices in the Northeast. For more information, visit cuimc.columbia.edu or columbiadoctors.org.

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