Team Genesis members who ran in the 2011 Falmouth Road Race on Aug. 14.
Members of the UMass Medical School community joined Team Genesis to run in the 2011 Falmouth Road Race, held on Aug. 14, raising $33,000 to support the exercise, nutrition and tobacco cessation wellness programs at the Genesis Club.
Established in 1988, the Genesis Club assists individuals with mental illness in gaining employment, housing, friendships and wellness. Team Genesis is a dedicated group of joggers and top-flight runners who all have the same goal: to reduce the stigma of mental illness and to raise money for the Genesis Club.
The Genesis Club has had a long-standing partnership with UMass Medical School and the Department of Psychiatry, started under the guidance of Thomas M. Manning, MA, deputy chancellor of Commonwealth Medicine, who is a founding and current board member of the Genesis Club. One of many public sector psychiatry initiatives of Commonwealth Medicine and the Department of Psychiatry, the Genesis Club partnership provides more than 20 transitional, supportive and independent job placements within UMMS for Genesis members in recovery from mental illness.
The 2011 team included seven runners from UMMS: Jeff Adams, Diane George, Carrie Conant, MD, James Yon, MD, and Kevin Bradley from the Department of Psychiatry; Peter Travisano of the Center for Health Policy and Research; and Anna Gueke from the Graduate School of Nursing. They joined 20 other Team Genesis members who ran with 12,000 runners in Falmouth.
To learn more about Team Genesis and the Genesis Club, contact kbradley@genesisclub.org or visit www.genesisclub.org.
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