Our New Name: Announcing the Max Gray Child and Adolescent Mood Disorders Program

UCLA is proud to announce the UCLA Max Gray Child and Adolescent Mood Disorders Program (Max Gray CHAMP) as a lasting tribute to Max Gray.

Max Gray was passionate about film, art music and life. In 2006, he graduated from Harvard-Westlake School, where he was captain of the Varsity lacrosse team. In 2010, he graduated from the Gallatin School at New York University and went on to work as an executive assistant at Creative Artists Agency and later as an associate at OddLot Entertainment, a Los Angeles-based motion picture production company. In August 2013, at the age of 25, Max died by suicide.

To honor Max’s memory and to reduce the toll of anxiety and depression, Laurie Davis Gordon established the Max Gray Fund for Treatment of Mood Disorders at the Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA in 2014. To date, more than $1.1-million has been raised through the generosity of friends and family of the Gray and Gordon families. This initiative has enabled the expansion of the mood disorders clinics to recruit and train thirteen psychiatry and postdoctoral psychology fellows, increasing their capacity to diagnose and treat patients according to the most up-to date methods, and conduct innovative research in mood disorders.

The Adult Mood Disorders Clinic at the Semel Institute provides clinical evaluations and ongoing treatment for patients with depression and bipolar disorder. The Child and Adolescent Mood Disorders Clinic offers diagnostic evaluations, second opinion consultations, and short-term pharmacological and psychosocial treatments for youth with significant and impairing mood disorders, as well as resources for their families. Philanthropy has been instrumental in enabling both clinics to increase new patient intake by approximately 30 percent.

As a result of the Max Gray Fund, more patients and families are receiving appropriate and effective care. More young doctors are being trained in the most advanced methods of treating these patients. More lives are being saved.

UCLA is proud to announce the UCLA Max Gray Child and Adolescent Mood Disorders Program (Max Gray CHAMP) as a lasting tribute to Max.

Please consider supporting the Max Gray Fund:
Online: www.giving.ucla.edu/MaxGrayFund
Check: made payable to The UCLA Foundation with “Max Gray Fund” in the memo line, mailed to Dorin Esfahani, UCLA Health Sciences Development, 10889 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1200, Los Angeles, CA 90024