Just a few days ago, as I turned on my home computer, accessed the internet and glanced at my Yahoo home page, I noticed that one of the news stories flashing across the Yahoo site dealt with the Bloomingdale Asylum. The Asylum, named after the area of upper Manhattan formerly known as Bloomingdale, once operated where Columbia University now stands. Established by New York Hospital in the early 19th century to care for the mentally ill, the records of the asylum now live here in the Medical Center Archives.

The second Heberden Society Lecture of the 2010-2011 academic year will be delivered by Robert C. Abrams, M.D. at 5 p.m. on Thursday, January 27, 2011, in the Uris Faculty Room (A-126) of Weill Cornell Medical College at 1300 York Ave. The title of the lecture will be "Late Life Depression and the Death of Queen Victoria."

Dr. Abrams is Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College and Attending Psychiatrist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.