On July 1, UCLA will open its new Staglin Family Music Festival Center for Brain and Behavioral Health, focused on research to improve recovery prospects for persons with brain diseases. The center will also provide seed funding to innovative scientists to build an understanding of the genetic and environmental causes of conditions ranging from depression to cognitive decline to schizophrenia. The aim, as center director Michael Fanselow puts it, will be to return unhealthy brains to health.

Dr. Fanselow’s research investigates fear, memory and anxiety, and aims to understand and remedy disorders such as post-traumatic stress, anixety disorders and depression. Dr. Fanselow is currently working with the center’s new Associate Director, Michelle Craske, to study whether cognitive behavioral therapy, combined with the drug scopolamine, can effectively treat anxiety disorders.

Fanselow also was appointed to the Staglin Family Chair in Psychology.

“We are delighted to have such a prominent scientist assume our Staglin Family Chair and the leadership of the Staglin Center,” said Shari Staglin.

Garen Staglin said, “UCLA is among the leading institutions studying brain health, and we applaud its approach to campus-wide collaborations to accelerate the science of the brain and resultant treatments.”

“The Staglins are providing UCLA with wonderful opportunity to accelerate research, enhance treatment and lead to new approaches in combatting mental illness,” Fanselow said.

We, the Staglin family, extend our hearfelt thanks to One Mind’s donors for making the opening of the new center possible.

Read more about the new center and Dr. Fanselow on UCLA’s website

[Photo credit: Reed Hutchinson, UCLA]