Monday, March 10, 2003

WILMINGTON, NC – Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison, an international authority and researcher on mental illness, will speak at 7 p.m., Monday, March 24, in UNCW’s Kenan Auditorium.

In 1995 Jamison, a professor of psychiatry at John Hopkins University, shocked her colleagues by going public with her own history of mental illness in a Washington Post article and subsequent book An Unquiet Mind. The book became a New York Times best seller and was cited by The Boston Globe, Entertainment Weekly and Seattle Post Intelligencer as one of the best of the year.

Since the publication of An Unquiet Mind, Jamison has become a spokesperson for millions of depression sufferers. She is recognized for dealing with the clinical and personal realities of depression in a manner that encourages dialogue, empathy and hope.

With her latest book Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide, Jamison addresses the subject of suicide.

“I have become increasingly optimistic about the possibilities of suicide prevention but deeply frustrated by the lack of public and professional awareness if the terrible toll it takes,” said Jamison. “Suicide is the third leading cause of death in 19 to 24 year olds and globally, kills over one million people a year.”

Jamison completed her undergraduate and graduate work at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she was a National Science Foundation Research Fellow and a John F. Kennedy Scholar. She was also named UCLA Graduate Woman of the Year.

Following graduation, Jamison served as director of the UCLA Affective Disorders Clinic and was selected as one of five individuals for the PBS-TV series Great Minds of Medicine. In 1993, she wrote Touched With Fire, a groundbreaking study about manic-depression and the creative spirit. She has published articles in numerous scientific journals and has authored or co-authored five books including a medical textbook on manic-depression, chosen in 1990 as the most outstanding book in biomedical sciences by the American Association of Publishers.

Tickets to Jamison’s March 24 lecture are $6; free for UNCW students and faculty/staff. Contact the Kenan Auditorium Box Office at 910/962-3500 or 800/732-3643. The box office is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.