Was This A-List Fundraiser the Most Important Lunch in New York City?

According to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer is the second most common type of the disease in American women. Currently, the average risk of a woman in the United States developing breast cancer sometime in her life is about 13%—meaning there is a 1 in 8 chance she will develop breast cancer, according to the ACS. October is breast cancer awareness month, and each year the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) holds its annual Symposium and Awards Luncheon on October 17 in New York.

Hosted by ELLE Editor in Chief Nina Garcia, this year’s luncheon honored fashion designer Vera Wang with the Sandra Taub Humanitarian Award in recognition of her dedication to BCRF. The award was presented by Donna Karan. The Jill Rose Award for scientific excellence was presented to Dr. Eric Winer, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, for his contributions as a clinician-scientist which have revolutionized the landscape of breast cancer treatments. Honorary Co-Chairs of the event included Kinga Lampert, Leonard A. Lauder, and William P. Lauder (Evelyn H. Lauder, Leonard's late wife, founded the BCRF in 1993. It has raised more than half a billion dollars since.)

For Garcia, the day was personal. “Back in 2015, I discovered I had a gene mutation that put me at a high risk for breast cancer,” she said. “And when you get that news, you think, ‘Why me? What does this mean?’ I would wake up and think, ‘well, when is the day when I’m going to wake up and be diagnosed with cancer?’ Thanks to research, I had options, and it breaks my heart when I know that some women do not have options.”