A message of hope filled the Frederick P. Rose Hall in New York City on May 13, as AFSP’s Lifesavers Dinner raised close to half a million dollars for suicide prevention research, education and advocacy.

The dinner was chaired by Anthony C. Hooper, senior vice president commercial operations, and president U.S., Japan and Intercontinental, Bristol-Myers Squibb. Olympic gold medalist and author Dorothy Hamill served as the evening’s emcee.

“My first personal experience with depression came right after the Olympics. I was 19 years old in 1976 and I won the Olympic Gold Medal and I had it all. I just had this charmed magical life,” said Hamill, who shared her experiences in a 2007 memoir, A Skating Life. “But underneath there was this sense of loneliness and this black cloud over me and I just couldn't understand why everything in my life was so perfect except I felt so inadequate. I felt like I just wanted to curl up in a ball and go nowhere. I struggled with it for many years and eventually I sought medical treatment and it has really turned my life around in so many ways.”

Hamill and 300 guests were on hand to honor researchers for scientific investigations that have significantly contributed to knowledge about suicide and its causation, and two families who have lost loved ones to suicide and are speaking out to educate the public and the military about depression and suicide, while reducing the stigma surrounding mental disorders.

The 2010 Research Award was presented to Drs. Victoria Arango and Ghanshyam Pandey for investigations that have helped to identify biological markers for suicide.

Dr. Arango pioneered anatomical studies in the brain of suicide victims, and has found clear evidence that biological changes in the brain contribute to the risk for suicide in adults. Dr. Pandey’s postmortem brain research of adult and teenage suicide victims is identifying specific abnormal sites in the brain that may help in developing therapeutic agents targeting these sites.

“I have collaborated with AFSP and have been the recipient of the Foundation’s research funds for about 20 years,” Arango said during her acceptance. “I’m very grateful for that and I am honored to receive this incredible award.”

“This is a really great honor because I have devoted much of my research addressing this area. Support from AFSP for suicide research will not only reveal the biological basis of suicidal behavior, but will also result in early identification and treatment of suicidal people,” Dr. Pandey said.

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