Marylou Selo
Marylou Selo, Founder and President of the Werner Alfred Selo Foundation in Zug, Switzerland.
Marylou Selo was born in Bolivia, grew up in Holland and studied in Geneva, Switzerland and at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where she obtained her Diploma as Conference Interpreter and Translator for Dutch, German, English, French, and Spanish. Since 1963, her main home has been New York City. She is still internationally active as a free-lance conference interpreter.
Since Marylou was diagnosed with bipolar illness in 1976, she has been a patient advocate in the United States and Europe. She is a co-founder of the Mood Disorder Support Group of New York, Inc. and of DBSA (then the NDMDA) headquartered in Chicago. She served as a Board Member of both organizations.
Following the suicide of her Father in 1993 Marylou also became active in suicide prevention and destigmatization of mental illness. She served as a Board Member of BBRF (Brain and Behavior Research Foundation) (previously NARSAD) and supported brain research.
She is a member of the International Bipolar Society and the bipolar societies of Switzerland, Austria and Germany. She advocates for patient’s rights, visits self-help groups, writes for various German newsletters and lectures at continued education classes for general practitioners. She also answers e-mails of patients and family members who contact her directly.
In 2014 Marylou received the first Aretäus Award for outstanding advocacy work from the German Society of Bipolar Disorders.
In 2016 Marylou was awarded the prestigious Mogens Schou Award for Advocacy from ISBD.
Currently she serves on the following Boards:
- Sunshine from Darkness
- Dragonfly Mental Heatlh
- Bipolar advisory board of the National Network of Depression Centers (NNDC)