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High-level scholarship and research at UCLA can inspire alumni to invest in a particular field in the form of an endowed chair. One of these dedicated alumni is basketball legend Kevin Love. He made a gift to create an endowed chair at UCLA to support advances in the field of mental health.
This subject is personal for Love, who has shared his own struggles with panic attacks, anxiety and depression. He uses his public platform to champion mental health for athletes and non-athletes alike.
The dream team
The inaugural holder of the Kevin Love Centennial Chair is Dr. Michelle Craske, distinguished professor of psychology at the UCLA College and of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. She is also director of the Anxiety and Depression Research Center and co-director of the UCLA Depression Grand Challenge.
Dr. Craske grew up surrounded by urgent questions about mental health. When she was just nine years old, her older brother was hospitalized due to serious emotional issues. He remained in treatment facilities for decades, while family members were left asking themselves why he was suffering and how he could best be helped.
These questions stayed with Dr. Craske and motivated her to study psychology, first in her native Tasmania and then in the United States. When the opportunity arose for her to come to UCLA as an assistant professor of psychology in 1991, she jumped at the chance and has been here ever since.
“The UCLA Psychology Department was, and continues to be, a world leader,” she says. “With such outstanding faculty, so much interdisciplinary collaboration, and access to so many resources on campus, it has been an exceptional place to base my work.”
A winning strategy
At UCLA, Dr. Craske has devoted much of her research to the study of depression and anxiety — examining risk factors and treatments as well as widening access to care.
In her key role with the UCLA Depression Grand Challenge, she engages in research aimed at cutting the global burden of depression in half by 2050. She developed the Screening and Treatment for Anxiety and Depression (STAND) program — a scalable, accessible system of care that is a model for others. With this approach, patients are triaged and regularly assessed to ensure that their care, whether digital or in person, fits the nature and severity of their symptoms.
Dr. Craske says that the endowed chair provides her with funds to build on her extensive body of work — conducting research leading to greater understanding and fresh treatment approaches.
“Kevin Love is a great role model and passionate advocate for mental health,” Dr. Craske says. “By talking publicly about his panic attacks in 2018 — before the COVID-19 pandemic made mental health discussions more commonplace — he did a lot to normalize such conversations, and not just in the sporting world. By funding this endowed chair, he is having an even greater impact. Depression is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide, affecting more than 300 million people each year. The work being done at UCLA has the potential to change millions of lives, and funding from supporters like Kevin empowers us to explore new theories, ideas and strategies.”
To make your difference in the area of mental health, contribute to the Depression Grand Challenge.
