An image of a woman named Samantha Shumm. She is standing against a blurred gray background and smiling at the camera. She has light white skin, shoulder-length straight brownish blonde hair, and blue eyes. She is wearing a light blue cardigan over a black shirt.

Samantha Schumm

Associate Director, SPARC, Milken Institute Strategic Philanthropy
Samantha Schumm, PhD, is an associate director on the Science Philanthropy Accelerator for Research and Collaboration team at Milken Institute Strategic Philanthropy.

Advancing the Science of Anxiety

Body

For people who live with anxiety, the experience is often persistent, deeply distressing, and disruptive to everyday life. Despite its prevalence and societal impact, anxiety remains one of the least understood mental health conditions. For researchers and clinicians, it can be challenging to trace symptoms back to the biological processes that cause them. Those processes span levels of complexity from molecular interactions to social behavior, and understanding them requires diverse fields of study, including computational modeling, genetics, and behavioral neuroscience. A deeper, more integrated understanding of these mechanistic layers is essential to drive the next generation of diagnostics, therapeutics, and preventive strategies for anxiety.

The Milken Institute's Science Philanthropy Accelerator for Research and Collaboration (SPARC) has partnered with the Dauten Family Foundation to catalyze scientific discovery across the full spectrum of anxiety research. This initiative will map the existing knowledge of anxiety’s underlying biological mechanisms, identify key stakeholders in the anxiety research ecosystem, pinpoint barriers to progress, and, finally, identify opportunities for high-impact philanthropic investment into multidisciplinary anxiety research.

The SPARC team’s expertise in science philanthropy will inform a strategic roadmap to accelerate progress in anxiety science by fostering collaborative efforts that connect laboratory work to real-world impact. Through this initiative, SPARC aims to reshape our understanding of anxiety at its roots, paving the way for more effective, personalized, and biology-driven approaches to care.

 

958
An image of a woman named Jasmine Jones. She has short black curly hair, brown skin, and brown eyes. She is smiling at the camera against an outdoor background and wearing a light blue blazer.

Jasmine Jones

Director, Marketing and Communications, Milken Institute Strategic Philanthropy
Jasmine Jones is the director of marketing and communications at Milken Institute Strategic Philanthropy. She leads the team in developing and executing strategies to amplify the Institute’s stories of impact and drive change through philanthropy.
An image of a female-presenting person who is Indian in appearance. She is smiling at the camera and standing against a gray background. She has long black hair, tan skin, brown eyes, and is wearing a light blue shirt with a long necklace.

Nilmini Rubin

Nilmini Rubin leads global public policy for Hedera, a leading sustainable, enterprise-grade distributed ledger technology network. As chief policy officer, she engages with policymakers, civil society, and the media to shape blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), and economic policy.
Professional headshot of a woman with short, styled gray hair wearing tortoiseshell glasses, a dark top, gold earrings, and a double-strand gold beaded necklace. She is smiling softly, with a blurred natural background behind her.

British A. Robinson

Chair, Africa, Milken Institute International
British A. Robinson is a true changemaker and influencer with a passion for solving some of the world’s most intractable problems.
A headshot of a woman named Rose Prinelle, who is standing against a beige background and slightly smiling at the camera. She has long dark brunette hair, white skin, and is wearing a dark blue shirt.

Rose Prinelle

Associate Director, International
Rose Prinelle is an experienced associate director for the International team, bringing more than ten years of experience from the world of business-to-business (B2B) technology communications to her role, where she leads the Institute’s integrated communications programme in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region.
A headshot of a woman named Angelina Fung. She is smiling at the camera and standing against a gray background. She has long black hair, brown eyes, and is Asian in appearance with white skin and wearing a beige blazer.

Angelina Fung

Director, Milken Institute Finance
Angelina Fung is a director at Milken Institute Finance. She leads the Inclusive Capitalism portfolio, which focuses on reshaping financial markets to promote long-term value creation that benefits all stakeholders.
An image of a woman named Jen Choi. She is slightly smiling against the camera and standing against a blurred background. She has short wavy strawberry blonde hair, light skin, and blue eyes. She is wearing a pearl necklace with a teal colored shirt.

Jennifer Choi

As CEO of the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA), Jennifer Choi directs the association’s engagement with external industry stakeholders to inform and enhance ILPA’s education, research, membership, and advocacy platforms.

Troy Duffie

Director, Financial Markets, Milken Institute
Troy Duffie is director of financial markets at the Milken Institute and has a background in venture capital, social impact investing, and affordable housing.
Subscribe to