A New York investment banker who retired in Vail has promised $5 million to the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, to open a Depression Center by August.
The center will focus on outreach, research and treatment, said donor George Wiegers, and will be the second in what he and his colleagues imagine will be a national network of Depression Centers, similar to cancer centers.
Wiegers said his mother suffered greatly from depression, and that the most important function of the new center — and eventually a national network of centers — is to “bring depression out of the closet.”
“Depression is a very real illness,” said Richard Krugman, dean of the School of Medicine, thanking Wiegers in a public ceremony Monday for an “extraordinary act of generosity and compassion.”
