HARTFORD — Two scientists whose daughter was killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School are being honored by the Yale School of Medicine for their advocacy for brain health.
Jeremy Richman and Jennifer Hensel are receiving an award Saturday from the school’s psychiatry department.
The couple’s 6-year-old daughter, Avielle, was among 20 children and six educators killed inside the Newtown school by a troubled, socially isolated gunman with a semi-automatic rifle in 2012.
The Avielle Foundation was created within months of the shooting with the goal of reducing violence. It was started to fund research that explores the underpinnings of the brain that lead to violent behaviors, and to foster the engagement of communities to apply these insights.
John Krystal is chairman of the psychiatry department at the Yale University School of Medicine and an adviser to the foundation. He said it has played an important role in raising awareness of gaps in the understanding of causes and treatments for violent behavior.
This was the 25th anniversary of the Yale Department of Psychiatry’s Neuroscience Conference. Past winners of the Research Advocacy Award have included cartoonist Gary Trudeau, author and talk show host Dick Cavett, educator Dr. Ruth Westheimer and The Hon. Patrick J. Kennedy.
