2013 Barrow Grand Ball Annual black-tie gala raises more than $2 million for Barrow
Women’s Board Chairman Judy Shannon with Barrow Ball Co-Chairmen Robyn DeBell and Cindy Watts
■ The 2013 Barrow Grand Ball, presented by the Women’s Board on Jan. 19 at the Arizona Biltmore, raised $2.169 million for Barrow Neurological Institute. Robyn DeBell and Cindy Watts chaired the successful event. The black-tie dinner and dance is one of Arizona’s premier fundraisers. Proceeds from the ball support a wide variety of projects at the institute, primarily in the area of research, thus providing important funding for promising and innovative scientific studies. As part of the funds raised annually at the ball, the Women’s Board selects a special project to support. This year, the Women’s Board project was A New Hope for Alzheimer’s. Funds raised for A New Hope for Alzheimer’s will support the research of Francisco Ponce, MD, director of the Barrow Center for Neuromodulation. Dr. Ponce is participating in a national multi-center study that is exploring the
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Barrow Magazine 2013 Barrow Grand Ball
potential of deep brain stimulation for the treatment of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. A New Hope for Alzheimer’s was also an opportunity for the Women’s Board to honor the memories of two outstanding neurologists who passed away unexpectedly and tragically this year. Benjamin Seltzer, MD, and Marwan Maalouf, MD, PhD, were physicians who were dedicated to Alzheimer’s disease and who contributed significantly to patient care, medical education and research at Barrow. The first Women’s Board fundraiser was a masked ball at Casa Blanca Inn on New Year’s Eve of 1965, the year the Women’s Board was established. Since then, the Women’s Board has raised more than $45 million for research at Barrow through the ball. The 2014 Barrow Grand Ball will be held Saturday, Jan. 18, at the Arizona Biltmore. ■