Gifts in Action - Blue Harbor Foundation

MEET THE BLUE HARBOR FOUNDATION

The Maryland-based Blue Harbor Foundation concentrates all of its resources on neuroscience research. It identifies and funds promising clinical research studies with the potential to advance diagnosis and treatment of mood disorders. Toward that end, the Foundation recently provided a significant gift to support pediatric bipolar research conducted by Mani Pavuluri, M.D., Ph.D.

Pavuluri, who works in the Institute for Juvenile Research and the Center for Cognitive Medicine in the department of psychiatry, uses functional magnetic neuroimaging to observe brain function. “We examine the changing blood flow in the living brain in response to the stimuli or tasks that we ask the bipolar children to perform,” she says.

WHY THEY GAVE

“We chose to fund Dr. Pavuluri’s work because she is a nationally recognized expert in the field of mood disorders and because her research is making a direct impact for the better on the lives of children today,” says Michael Heckman, executive director (shown in the photograph above next to Dr. Pavuluri and other members of Blue Harbor).

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

“The research going on at UIC is really so inspiring to people who before had no hope,” Heckman says. “The truth is that the funding is so competitive in psychiatric research, yet the UIC College of Medicine has some very talented researchers. And the collaborative spirit is extraordinary—it is unique nationally and globally.

“The cross collaboration is so important to us,” adds Heckman. “Sharing and collaborating is how we’re going to progress. Too much research work is done in isolation. I don’t know how UIC did it but they managed to get amazing minds and created a platform for them to work together across disciplines, and that’s what we want to fund. I couldn’t be happier with the performance of Dr. Pavuluri and her entire team in every dollar that we give them.”