NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, the Endometriosis Foundation of America (EndoFound) announced that the 11th Annual Blossom Ball will honor Michael J. Dowling, President, and CEO of Northwell Health, and Dr. Lisa Sanders, a New York Times Magazine columnist and creator of Netflix’s Diagnosis. The event will take place on Monday, March 16 at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City. Judy Joo is host of Food Network’s Korean Food Made Simple and Iron Chef, UK. Nkeki Obi-Melekwe, who recently starred as Tina in Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, will give a special performance.
This year’s red carpet fundraising event, co-chaired by Eileen Guggenheim and Madeleine Rudin, is a black-tie evening and will include a cocktail reception followed by an elegant seated dinner, musical performance and dancing.
Tickets for dinner start at $750 and tables begin at $12,500. After party-only tickets are available for $125 (entry after dinner and program). To reserve tables, make a tax-deductible donation to the EndoFound, or to get more information on the event please go online to www.endofound.org/blossomball.
Michael J. Dowling is one of health care’s most influential voices, taking a stand on societal issues such as gun violence and immigration that many health system CEOs shy away from. As President and CEO of Northwell Health, he leads a clinical, academic, and research enterprise with a workforce of more than 71,000 and an annual revenue of $13.5 billion. Mr. Dowling has received numerous awards, including the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and several honorary degrees from Fordham University, University College Dublin (Ireland), and the prestigious Queen’s University Belfast. In 2017, he served as the Grand Marshal of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in NYC, and he chairs the Healthcare Institute and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. Before joining Northwell in 1995, Mr. Dowling served in New York State government for 12 years, including leadership roles as director of health, education and human services, commissioner of social services, deputy secretary, and a chief adviser to former Governor Mario Cuomo. Earlier, he was a professor of social policy and an assistant dean of Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Services.
Lisa Sanders is an internist on the faculty of Yale School of Medicine and teaches at Yale’s Internal Medicine Residency Program. She graduated from Yale Medical School and did her residency and chief residency at Yale’s Internal Medicine Primary Care Residency Program. Sanders created and writes the biweekly column, “Diagnosis: Unsolved Cases,” for The New York Times Magazine. Her column was the inspiration for the hit television series “House MD,” for which she was an advisor. Working with The New York Times and producer Scott Rudin, Sanders helped create a series of documentaries that follows patients in their search for a diagnosis using crowdsourcing. Diagnosis is now available for streaming on Netflix. Her most recent book, Diagnosis: Solving the Most Baffling Medical Mysteries, is a collection of her columns and was published last summer. She also wrote The New York Times bestseller, Every Patient Tells a Story: Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis. Before medical school, Sanders was an Emmy Award-winning producer for CBS News. She lives in New Haven, Connecticut with her husband, writer and radio personality, Jack Hitt. Read an article from Sanders' New York Times column about an endometriosis patient whose lung collapsed due to endometriosis here.
For more information on the Foundation or sponsorship opportunities please visit www.endofound.org, follow EndoFound on social media @endofound.
Endometriosis Foundation of America
Founded in 2009 by Padma Lakshmi and Tamer Seckin, MD, EndoFound is the country’s largest non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to increasing disease recognition, providing advocacy, facilitating expert surgical training, and funding landmark research for endometriosis. Engaged in a robust campaign to inform both the medical community and the public, EndoFound places particular emphasis on the critical importance of early diagnosis and effective intervention while simultaneously providing education to medical professionals and their patients. To learn more or get involved go to www.endofound.org/.
