Shire Announces Judges Panel For New Scholarship Program For Students Diagnosed With ADHD

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Initiative helps individuals diagnosed with ADHD going on to higher education. 

Shire announces a distinguished panel of judges for their new scholarship program being offered to students in the United States diagnosed with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The president of the Attention Deficit Disorder Association (ADDA), the CEO of Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD), and the president of the American Professional Society of ADHD and Related Disorders (APSARD) are among those who will volunteer their time and expertise as judges to review the applications and select the scholarship recipients.

The Shire ADHD Scholarship Program was developed and is being implemented by Shire, a global specialty biopharmaceutical company that focuses on helping those diagnosed with ADHD as well as other medical conditions. This unique program awards a $2,000 scholarship and one year of prepaid coaching services provided in partnership with the Edge Foundation, and is part of Shire’s efforts to develop additional services and opportunities that help support ADHD patients, their families, and the ADHD community overall. Applications for 2011 will be accepted through July 7th.

The panel of judges will select the final 25 one-time scholarship recipients from applications submitted for consideration. For complete information on Shire’s ADHD Scholarship Program, including eligibility requirements and the application, visit www.ShireADHDScholarship.com.

“Shire is very appreciative that so many advocates and experts in the ADHD community have agreed to be part of the judging panel in support of this scholarship program,” said Michael Yasick, Senior Vice President of Shire’s ADHD business.

The Judging Panel

Dr. David Baron, MSEd, DO is the immediate past president of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) and is currently the Psychiatrist-in-Chief at the USC University Hospital and Norris Cancer Hospital and Vice Chair and Residency Training Director at the USC Department of Psychiatry.

Carol Caruso is the Secretary of the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) Board of Directors. She is also the executive director of NAMI PA, Montgomery County; she has a Master’s Degree in Creative Arts Therapy from Hahnemann (now Drexel) University. She has worked for nearly thirty years in various mental health programs for both adults and children in southeastern Pennsylvania, mostly in Montgomery County.

Evelyn Polk Green is president of the Attention Deficit Disorder Association (ADDA) a leading advocacy group for adults with ADHD. An adult with ADHD and the mother of two adult sons diagnosed with ADHD, Green is a national advocate on behalf of children and adults with learning differences, ADHD and other mental health issues.

Dr. Ruth Hughes, PhD is CEO of Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD), where she has been responsible for public policy, training, membership and chapter development. A clinical psychologist and mother of an adult son with ADHD, Dr. Hughes’ work today focuses on advocating for a system of care where everyone with ADHD has access to state-of-the-art information and services.

Dr. Anthony Rostain, M.D., M.A. is Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. At Penn Behavioral Health, he is also director of the Adult Development Disorders Unit, which includes the Adult ADHD Treatment and Research Program. Dr. Rostain is the incoming President of the American Professional Society for ADHD and Related Disorders (APSARD)

In addition, two members of Shire’s senior leadership team will join the panel.

For more information on the judges for Shire’s ADHD Scholarship program, please visit www.ShireADHDScholarship.com.

As part of the Shire ADHD Scholarship Program, Shire is partnering with The Edge Foundation, a leading national nonprofit organization, to provide coaching services for each student awarded a Shire ADHD Scholarship. The coaching includes weekly sessions with specially-trained ADHD coaches who are passionate about their work. The students set weekly goals and action plans to meet those goals and have unlimited e-mail and phone support from their coaches to help keep them on track. This support may be important in the higher education environment where they are living independently, have more free time and less adult supervision.

Shire’s ADHD Scholarship Program is part of Shire’s comprehensive approach centered on putting patients first by offering treatments and services designed to help patients, parents, advocates and others providing care for people diagnosed with ADHD. The ADHD Scholarship Program is expected to be an annual initiative.

For further information please contact:

Notes to editors

SHIRE PLC

Shire’s strategic goal is to become the leading specialty biopharmaceutical company that focuses on meeting the needs of the specialist physician. Shire focuses its business on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), human genetic therapies (HGT) and gastrointestinal (GI) diseases as well as opportunities in other therapeutic areas to the extent they arise through acquisitions. Shire’s in-licensing, merger and acquisition efforts are focused on products in specialist markets with strong intellectual property protection and global rights. Shire believes that a carefully selected and balanced portfolio of products with strategically aligned and relatively small-scale sales forces will deliver strong results.

For further information on Shire, please visit the Company’s website: www.shire.com.

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