he New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Honors
Frank Gehry and Joel S. Marcus at Fourth Annual
Dinner Celebration
New
York City: Barry Diller, Chairman and
CEO of IAC, presented architect Frank Gehry
with The New York Stem Cell Foundation
Humanitarian Award at Breaking Ground:
NYSCF’s Fourth Annual Dinner Celebration,
Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at The Rockefeller
University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, NY.
Over 300 people attended the event
to benefit NYSCF’s goal of accelerating the most
advanced stem cell research.
NYSCF Board Member Dr. Zach W. Hall
presented
The New York Stem Cell Foundation Leadership Award to
Joel S. Marcus, Chairman and CEO of
Alexandria Real
Estate Equities, Inc. The award honors individuals in public life who have
resolutely and courageously supported stem cell
research; Dr. Hall noted that Alexandria Real
Estate Equities, Inc. has become the nation’s
most prominent developer of real estate for the
life sciences.
“This has been a watershed year for stem
cell research and
for NYSCF,” said Susan L. Solomon, CEO
and the organization’s co-founder, who noted
that in recent weeks
several NYSCF-Druckenmiller Fellows have published research that is moving
scientists toward understanding and curing some
of the most devastating diseases of the day.
“What we have been able to achieve – with the
support of so many people in this room – is
nothing short of astonishing, though there is
much more
to accomplish.”
Mr. Gehry received The New York Stem Cell
Foundation Humanitarian Award, created to honor
people, including non-scientists, who have
resolutely and courageously supported stem cell
research during a time of exceptional challenge
for advanced scientific research in the United
States. As an architect, Mr. Gehry has always
worked at the cutting edge of science and
technology, and for more than four decades has
been actively involved in the work of the
Hereditary Disease Foundation, which supports
critical research in the life sciences. Most
recently, he worked with the foundation to
create the Leslie Gehry Brenner Award for
Innovation in Science to honor the memory of his
daughter, who died in 2008 of uterine cancer.
NYSCF saluted Mr. Gehry for
his lifetime of support for advanced scientific research.
The program also featured remarks by NYSCF Board
Member John L. Eastman, a partner in
Eastman & Eastman, and
NYSCF Board Chairman Roy Geronemus, MD.
Attendees included dinner co-chairs Chuck Close,
Fiona and Stan Druckenmiller, Dorothy
Lichtenstein, and Martha Stewart. Also
attending Henry Buhl; Karen E. Burke, MD, PhD;
Russ and Judy Carson; Lewis B. Cullman;
Elizabeth Kabler; Evie Lipper, MD and Bill
Speck, MD; Richard D. Kaplan and Edwina
Sandys; Richard Meier; Alice Rogoff; Shirley Lord
Rosenthal; and Ambassador Carl Spielvogel
and Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel.
Honorary co-chairs included Senator Charles E.
Schumer; Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand;
Senator Arlen Specter; Representative Michael N.
Castle; Representative Charles B. Rangel;
Congressman Jerrold Nadler; and New York
State Senator Thomas K. Duane.
Dinner committee members included Maryam and
Jonathan Dickey; Jodie and John
Eastman; Eileen and Richard Ekstract;
Gail and Roy Geronemus, MD; Paul Healy;
Debbie and Peter Kahn; Lynn Mackler;
Carol Roaman; Lisa and Michael Schultz;
Susan L. Solomon and Paul Goldberger; and
Susan Towers.
The event took place in conjunction with NYSCF’s
Fourth Annual Translational Stem Cell Research
Conference on October 13 and 14, 2009, which is
devoted to demonstrating the potential of stem cell
research to advance cures for the major diseases of
our time.
About The New York Stem Cell Foundation
Founded in 2005, NYSCF is dedicated to furthering
stem cell research to advance the search for cures
of the major diseases of our time. NYSCF opened the
first privately funded stem cell laboratory in New
York City in March 2006 to serve as a “safe haven”
where scientists can conduct advanced stem cell
research free of federal restrictions. The
organization supports scientists engaged in stem
cell research through grants, fellowships and
symposia; runs collaborative, state-of-the-art
research facilities directly focused on curing
disease; and educates the public about the
importance and potential benefits of stem cell
research. For more information, visit
www.nyscf.org