On Tuesday, October 22, Roland Park Country School will hold the fifth annual Robinson Health Colloquium, which this year focuses on adolescent depression awareness. The event features Karen L. Swartz, M.D., founder and Program Director of the Johns Hopkins University Adolescent Depression Awareness Program (ADAP), who will help educate the community about the medical illnesses of depression and bipolar disorder.
Dr. Swartz will address parents in the RPCS Sinex Theater at 7:30 p.m. This event is free and open to the public. In addition to the evening program, RPCS will also host a panel of psychologists, pediatricians, and social workers, who will speak with the Upper School students during the school day. Mary Beth Marsden, news anchor at WBAL Radio, will be the moderator for the panel. Dr. Swartz will also hold a workshop with the faculty in the afternoon.
Karen L. Swartz, M.D. is an expert on mood disorders with a particular interest in women’s health. She is the Director of Clinical and Educational Programs at the Johns Hopkins Mood Disorders Center and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She has also been the Director of the Affective Disorders Consultation Clinic at Johns Hopkins for over ten years. Swartz received her B.A. from Princeton University and her M.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She completed her residency in psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1995 followed by a fellowship in Psychiatric Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.
ADAP is a school-based program designed to educate high school students, faculty, and parents about adolescent depression. Depression affects approximately 5% of today’s teenagers, making it one of the most common illnesses teenagers face. ADAP aims to increase awareness about mood disorders in young people while stressing the need for evaluation and treatment.