Ellingrod Laboratory Assistant Honored

To recognize outstanding student leadership in the area of campus mental health, the University of Michigan initiated the Student Mental Health Advocate Award in 2007. The undergraduate and graduate students who have been nominated from across the country have all made a significant impact in their campus communities by raising awareness of mental health issues, advocating for mental health services on campus, and helping to reduce the stigma of depressive illnesses.

We are excited to announce Ryan Dougherty, senior at U-M, BS in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience, as this year’s winner of the Student Mental Health Advocate Award. Ryan is an assistant in Vicki Ellingrod’s laboratory at the College of Pharmacy.

Ryan has demonstrated a lifelong and passionate commitment to changing the landscape of mental health in our society through his personal interactions in daily life. Ryan lends unconditional compassion to anyone and everyone he comes into contact with, and proudly speaks up for those whose voices would not otherwise be heard.

Ryan’s advocacy in mental health began in co-founding the Allies of Disability Awareness organization on campus. This organization seeks to establish a visible disability community and increase access to education at the University of Michigan. Ryan assisted in organizing two community art shows, a monthly meeting on mental wellbeing and stigma, and presented on navigating employment with an invisible disability identity such as depression.

Ryan’s activism expanded when his peers elected him as Vice President of the Diversity Committee for the Inter-Cooperative Council (ICC). The ICC is a student-owned and run housing organization with over five hundred students. As a VP, Ryan developed curriculum and implemented the first educational initiative in the organization’s 75-year history, focusing on social justice and inclusivity, conflict resolution, and mental health and stigma.

Thanks to Ryan, ICC members have now participated in multiple day-long workshops focusing on the negative impact of mental health stigma on the ICC communities, and emphasizing that mental wellbeing is a collective responsibility which can be achieved through ongoing education and open conversations. These workshops empowered hundreds of students with stronger skills in starting conversations regarding depression and anxiety, and in navigating necessary mental health resources for themselves, friends, or loved ones.

Ryan’s activism goes hand-in-hand with his research, which includes community-based participatory action research in disability studies with Dr. Adena Rottenstein, and clinical research in Dr. Patricia Deldin’s Mood and Schizophrenia Laboratory, and in the College of Pharmacy.

Ultimately, Ryan aims to establish a comprehensive mental health research and resource center that acknowledges the importance of impacting the culture surrounding mental illnesses to create a healthier society.

Thank you for considering Ryan Dougherty for this important award. I cannot emphasize enough how strongly I feel he deserves to be recognized for his commitment to changing the landscape of mental health on our campus, and in our society.

Nominated by:
Sarah Wizinsky, President, Michigan House Co-op