Cocktails for a cause

Jodie Eastman, Ted Terry, Steve Kroft, Jennet Conant, and Marlene Hess

Lisa Grunow, Susan Solomon, and Robert A. Towbin

Jodie and John Eastman and Katama and Jay Eastman hosted a cocktail reception for the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) at Jodie and John’s East Hampton home last Friday. The assembled guests heard NYSCF CEO and Co-Founder Susan Solomon, along with Dr. Kevin Eggan, investigator at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and NYSCF scientific director, speak about the potential of embryonic stem cell research to cure the major diseases of our time, the latest developments in the lab and on the political front, and the importance of private funding to advance this critically important science.

Founded in 2005, the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) is a privately funded foundation dedicated to furthering human embryonic stem cell research to advance the search for cures of the major diseases of our time. The foundation opened the first privately funded human embryonic stem cell laboratory in New York in March 2006 to serve as a “safe haven” where scientists from academic medical centers in the New York area and throughout the East Coast can conduct advanced human embryonic stem cell research free of the federal restrictions that limit the scope of government-supported work.

The Foundation convenes an annual Translational Stem Cell Research Conference at which researchers present the latest advances in the field; this year’s conference will be held October 15-16, 2007 at Rockefeller University in New York City. The organization’s mission is to support scientists engaged in human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research and somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), through grants, fellowships and symposia; to educate the public about the importance and potential benefits of hESC research and SCNT; and to establish new collaborative, state-of-the-art research facilities supported entirely with private funds and directly focused on curing disease.

Steve Kroft, Daylon James, Dr. Kevin Eggan, and Susan Solomon

Mahnaz Ispahani, Adam Bartos, Bob Memschel, and Janet Wallach

Steven Gaines, Louise Loening, and John Eastman

Tom Marino, Gail Geronemus, Lloyd Blankfein, Paul Goldberger, Jill Marino, and Liz Robbins

NYSCF Scientific Director, Dr. Kevin Eggan, Jodie Eastman, John Eastman, Woody Johnson, and Susan Solomon

Adam Bartos, Mahnaz Ispahani, John Alexander, and Fiona Waterstreet

Betina Zilka, Somers Farkas, and Eve Patton

Barbara and and Alan Washkowitz

John Eastman, Adam Bartos, Mahnaz Isphani, Bob Menschel, and Janet Wallach

Anne Williams, Polly Bruckmann, and Marilyn Breslow

Lloyd Blankfein, Gail Geronemus, Susan Solomon, and Paul Goldberger

Francis Barlow, Lynn Hummer, and Jodie Eastman

Anyone invited to the New York townhouse of Frank and Mary Skillern will tell you two things about them. They are consummate hosts and are both passionately devoted to the arts. Their home in the East 60s boasts a jewel box of a theater where the leading lights of Broadway and cabaret often entertain the Skillern guess. Frank loves giving tours of the house especially the fifth floor library that contains a collection of videos, DVDs and tapes of literally hundreds of musicals, rivaling that of the Lincoln Center Performing Arts Library.

Ensconced for the summer in their house in Southampton, the couple continues to entertain. This past week they held an al fresco sunset cocktail reception on a quiet Monday evening in their English garden festooning with hydrangea.

Award winning chef Robert Rizzuto and Pilar Visconti of NYIT’s Gold Coast Caterers worked with Mrs. Skillern to devise a sumptuous menu that had more then a touch of the Great Gatsby. They produced a dazzling and tasty array of culinary delights at the salon like evening: Tuna Tartare, Duck Confit on Polenta, Filet of Beef and a buffet of rack of lamb, local grilled vegetables and a spicy dish with couscous.