Honorary chair Kate Nelligan and Dr. Marianne Legato, founder and director of the Partnership, hosted the event. Honorees included Dr. Ruth Kirschstein, senior advisor to the director at the National Institutes of Health, who received the Athena Award for Government; Dr. Joanna Rubinstein, associate dean for institutional affairs at Columbia University Health Sciences, who received the Athena Award for Healthcare; Linda Willett, Esq., vice president and deputy general counsel for Bristol-Myers Squibb, who received the Athena Award for Industry; Dr. Zsuzsanna Weisenfeld-Hallin, professor of neurophysiology at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, who, along with her colleague Dr. Karin Schenck- Gustafsson, professor in the department of cardiology and director of the Center of Gender Related Medicine at the Karolinska Institute, received the International Athena Award; and Dr. Jay Adlersberg and Graciela Rogerio, medical correspondent and medical producer (respectively) for WABC-TV News in New York, who received the Athena Award for Media.

The evening’s honorees included Beryl Abrams, Dr. Virginia Rider, Dr. Myrna Weissman, Dr. Jay Adlersberg, Graciela Rogerio, Dr. Karin Schenck-Gustafsson, Dr. Joanna Rubinstein, Linda Willett, Dr. Ruth Kirschstein, and Dr. Benjamin Lewis

At the event, Dr. Myrna Weissman, professor of epidemiology in psychiatry at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, was presented with the Partnership Distinguished Scholar Award. The M. Irené Ferrer Award for outstanding original research in gender-specific medicine was given to Dr. Virginia Rider, associate professor at Pittsburgh State University and expert on the interrelationship between sex hormones and autoimmune disease, for her research titled “Increased Estrogen-Dependent Expression of Calcineurin in Female SLET Cells is Regulated by Multiple Mechanisms.”  

Dr. Benjamin Lewis, associate clinical professor of medicine at Columbia University, and Beryl Abrams, Esq., general counsel at Columbia University, were given special recognition by Dr. Legato for their hard work and dedication to the Partnership and its goals.    

Dr. Legato and Partnership Board Chairman Don Cogman present Dr. Myrna Weissman with the Partnership Distinguished Scholar Award		Justin Killian, grandson of M. Irené Ferrer, Robert Preston, CEO of MultiMedia Healthcare/Freedom, LLC, and Dr. Legato present Dr. Virginia Rider with the M. Irené Ferrer Award		Guests view the live auction items during the cocktail reception

Following dinner, items such as gift certificates to ten top- rated New York City restaurants, a David Yurman necklace and matching earrings, New York Yankees baseball tickets, and a case of fine wine were auctioned to attendees, raising additional funds to support the Ferrer Professorship.

M. Irené Ferrer is an internationally known physician whose work integrated outstanding research, patient care, and educational achievements in training whole generations of cardiologists. The professorship will honor Dr. Ferrer’s important contributions to medicine.