On Thursday afternoon, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation hosted its 18th annual Palm Beach Hot Pink Luncheon and Symposium event (virtually) to share the latest advances in breast cancer research. While there wasn’t the usual Palm Beach backdrop or pink carpet, Heidi Klum still brought the passion and glamour as she hosted the affair which brought in 400 virtual attendees and raised over $1.25 million.
The event began with a welcome message from Klum and the BCRF's founding scientific director Larry Norton. Scientific director Judy Garber then moderated the symposium, which featured Lisa Carey, MD, ScM of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Graham Colditz, DrPH, MD, MPH of Washington University School of Medicine and Constance Lehman, MD, Ph.D. of Massachusetts General Hospital. The doctors discussed the challenges of diagnosing and treating breast cancer during a pandemic, recent developments in research—including artificial intelligence—and how to achieve their common goal of zero breast cancer diagnoses.
Singer-songwriter Deborah Cox then kicked off the donation portion of the event with a beautiful rendition of “What the World Needs Now Is Love” and was later joined by none other than Dionne Warick. Leonard Lauder later came onscreen to present the Evelyn H. Lauder Humanitarian Award to Michael Kors and his partner Lance Le Pere for their 15 years of support, compassion, and dedicated humanitarianism. Anna Wintour led the congratulations for the much-deserved honorees by thanking them for making the world ‘happier’ (which she credited as a “Michael” word.) The admiration continued with messages from Kate Hudson, Nina Garcia, Audra McDonald, Anna DeLuca, Blaine Trump, and Aerin Lauder. Aerin referenced the many pink carpets the trio had walked together in the past and praised their warmth and kindness.
Upon accepting his award, Kors shared, “As designers, celebrating women and bringing out the best in them has always been our biggest goal. In everything that we do, Lance and I strive to give women the confidence they need to roll up their sleeves every day and achieve their goals. It's only fitting that we stand with them in this fight.” Le Pere added, “We've known too many who have been devastated by breast cancer, from my mother who lived with breast cancer for 31 years, to my sister who is a breast cancer survivor, to dear friends and colleagues. We have committed ourselves to BCRF because of the groundbreaking research that they fund, that will one day bring us a cure.” Billy Porter closed out the event by singing “So They Say,” by Lalah Hathaway and dedicated it to the couple of the day.
