2019’s Lecture of a Lifetime on mental health re-released and more relevant than ever

Last May, Dr. Glenda MacQueen’s public lecture on the biology of mood disorders drew record attendance to UCalgary’s annual Lecture of a Lifetime event. Today — as social distancing makes it difficult to access trusted mental health supports and coping tools during such uncertain times — MacQueen’s lecture topic is more relevant than ever.

Video of MacQueen’s 2019 lecture has been re-released posthumously with a new introduction by Deborah Yedlin, chancellor of the University of Calgary. MacQueen passed away in March 2020, leaving behind an honoured legacy as a scholar, a physician and a psychiatrist. She was the Cumming School of Medicine’s vice-dean from 2012 until September 2019, when she stepped down for health reasons. She was a member of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute and the Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research & Education.

“We were so fortunate that she agreed to do the Lecture of a Lifetime last year,” says Yedlin. “We didn’t know what the next 12 months would hold — she was so revered, and it was a privilege to hear her speak about her research and share the insights she gained from it.”

With rising fear about the spreading coronavirus and its effects causing increased anxiety and worry across the world, understanding mental health is more important today than ever.

“As a society, we’re under an immense amount of stress right now. It gets worse by the day and nobody is immune,” says Yedlin. “Dr. MacQueen’s work focused on mental heath and it’s valuable to connect it in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic."

MacQueen's 2019 Lecture of a Lifetime was recorded on May 2, 2019 and is available to watch now.

Lecture of a Lifetime 2020, Becoming Public with Dr. John Ferris, has been postponed — details about the event will be shared as soon as they are known. 

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