[applause] as i said in an earlier session this morning at 12 and knowledge tipper gore, she has just been phenomenal in terms of her help. oftentimes honorary chairs of events as i said earlier are just that, honoraria and the lender name entered office to legitimize his endeavors and open doors. in tipper has done much more than that and i would like to thank you for all that you have done. [applause] and i think as you know she does this because of her deep and long live commitment to these issues. she is a well-known mental health advocate, she co-founded and cheered the families for the homeless in 1986 an issue that we continue to do with and develop a fantastic photographic exhibition which toured the country in 1980 she founded tennessee voices for children which is a coalition to promote services for children and youth with serious emotional or substance used disorders. issue is a leader in fermi i think us before adding typically of the clinton years and all the one on one in the clinton years and she was instrumental in my turn now to be a very important era and think for u

speakers include tipper gore, who is the honorary chair of the group mental health america. this is about 90 minutes. >> welcome everyone. it is so enlightening to be in a room filled with people who want to make the difference we need to make in this country to get us back on the path of becoming the healthyest nation. we know unless mental health and substance abuse conditions are a core part are what happens to make us the healthyest nation, we're not going to get to where we need to get. so every time i'm with you, i get a great sense energy and opportunity. for the few of you i may not have met yet, i'm david shern, the president and c.e.o. of mental health plerk, and this is my third annual conference, and i'm delighted to be here. we have a fantastic conference this year. it is very full and exciting in terms of the number and variety of plannery sessions we have. when we began planning this, it was right after the election. there was lots of talk of health care reform, and then, as these things go, we had -- you might have read about it in the papers, there was this

i want to think tipper gore for leading us off. i missed her she is such a back to foul i think we should reverse that and the future. but let me get straight to your question. i am actually more optimistic than i have ever been about the prospect of health form. having said that i always say that healthcare is always more unlikely than it is likely but it is more likely than it ever has been. and, i look at all the different reasons as to why but i think it is important that you know these reasons. and then i am going to talked specifically, which feeds into why i am optimistic. 1i think that you're sang in the policy discussion is much more open. >> why i am more encouraged that a gas integrated. *dais dais h* it gets integrated. the process will not be president germans days the chairman's plan in me will be our plan because this is a process that is being worked out on capitol hill with members on both sides of the aisle getting very invested in what the policy is a very important difference in what we've tried the last time ar

buckley published tipper gore was a dog walking on the hind legs. i was also a dog bites man. there were plenty of young people even in the late '60s but they were not the in people who were not liberal who you saw on television or newspapers. the archetypal young people whether admired or feared were idealistic liberals harry radicals or copulating druggies. he rose or rebels or freaks. here says the editors of "national review" with a kid, high school freshmen who speaks for the unseen. there was one more reaction the most important of all. a blue three by five card with "national review" name and address in bold with the italicized identifier william f. buckley, jr. editor. below that in red ink a message, as something like richard, nice going. congratulations. or rec, a very nice. thanks. in time i would learn that every contributor to every issue of "national review" got such a card from william f. buckley, jr. which did not diminish its value but rather the reverse. the cards were a courtesy in a proficient that often skipped courtesy. over the years i sent many such car

i want to thank tipper gore for leading us all. i mister. she has quite a warm-up act to follow. i think we should reverse that in the future. but let me get straight to your question, ron. i'm absolutely under actually more optimistic than i have ever been on the health care reform. having said that, i always say that health care is always more unlikely than likely, but it's more likely than it ever has been. and i look at all the differing reasons as to why, but i think it's important that you know these reasons and then i'm going to talk specifically about which feeds into why i'm optimistic. one, i think that you are seeing the policy discussion is much more open, it's much more integrated. none of the policies that people can unfairly, fairly mischaracterized is in these packages that members of congress are contemplating. so the sort of fear issue is hard to play on. as you know, all too often in the health care reform debate fear be told. in this contest i believe that the policy is actually served as a barrier against critiques. i'm not saying that there will be the usual

were chatting about, his work has been so successful, it has been repeatedly cited by people like tipper gore who cite all kinds of findings. finally, it is a pleasure to introduce the ceo of the american association for the advancement of science and executive publisher, what is probably the most prestigious journal in science, cleverly named science. dr. lester serve for 7 years, the national institute on drug abuse and serve for many years to the point where he was close to assisting the banquet on the executive conference for wall. the acting director of the national institute of mental health. alan has been a longtime colleague, his fingerprints was all over it. and it was a very strong orientation towards research. point sanjay gupta. >> thank you all for come in. [applause] >> i am delighted to be here. if you rick watch cnn, you see reflected on when we approach these stories. if you look up the advancement, the understanding and treatment, mental illness overall, there's a lot to talk about, this panel could go on to some time, it has been some time coming, not only to look at where