Chairs for the event were: Patricia Begley, Kitty de Chazal, Kim S. Fennebresque, Lorna Hyde Graev, Alexandra A. Herzan, Anne Mai, Lynn Nicholas, PsyD, and Andrea Roy. Consuelo Mack, managing editor and anchor of Consuelo Mack WealthTrack, served as Master of Ceremonies.

Among those in attendance: Courtney Arnot, Barbie Bancroft, Debbie Bancroft, Wendy Breck, Katherine Bryan, Dana Buchman, Judy Cormier, Rebecca de Kertanguy, Jackie Drexel, Barrett Frelinghuysen, Jacquie Garrett, Mark Gilbertson, Agnes Gund, Mai Harrison,Amanda Haynes-Dale, Marlene Hess, Dr. Jimmie Holland, Mary Kalikow, Marianna Kaufman, Fernanda Kellogg and Kirk Henckels, Evelyn Lauder, Jo Carole Lauder, Jeanne Lawrence,
Kate Lear, Dr. Shari Lusskin, Kitty McKnight, Payne Middleton, Nick Nicholas, Susan Nitze, Jamie Niven, Carolyn Mackenzie, Peggy and Marne Obernauer, Jr., Lil Phillips, John and Ann Pyne, Ann Rapp, Diana Revson,  Emilia Saint-Amand, Topsy Taylor, Zibby Tozer, Jean Shafiroff, Sydney Shuman, Silda Wall Spitzer, Kiliaen van Rensselear, Jacqueline Weld, Karin and Guy Wyser-Pratte.

Dr. Jamison, Professor of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and co-director of the Johns Hopkins Mood Disorders Center, was also a Symposium panelist. Joining her on the panel were: Herbert Pardes, MD, CEO of New York Presbyterian Hospital; and Benjamin D. Philpot, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Cell and Molecular Physiology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill.

These eminent panelists enlightened the assembled guests about the increasing evidence that the brain has a far greater capacity for change than was previously believed, and that the wiring of the brain responds to external experience. This ability expands the possibilities for treating brain injuries and even brain diseases such as Schizophrenia, Major Depression, and Bipolar Disorder. If environmental factors–such as social contact, education and work–have a therapeutic role in brain functioning, there is new hope for the understanding and treatment of diseases that have been considered largely genetically based, degenerative and incurable. Fountain House has long been dedicated to enriching its members’ lives by helping them to enter or re-enter the world of work, school and community.