The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis, the fundraising arm of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, along with Bal Harbour Shops, will host the Destination Fashion 2016 Kick-Off Party to unveil plans for the main event and announce the 2016 Women of Substance and Style honorees.

To celebrate Bal Harbour Shops’ 50th anniversary and The Miami Project’s 30th anniversary, the nation’s top shopping destination and the world’s most comprehensive spinal cord injury research center, have teamed up again to produce Destination Fashion 2016 set for Saturday, March 5, 2016. Destination Fashion remains the only time in Bal Harbour Shops’ history when its doors are closed to host this truly one-of-a-kind, prominent, private celebrity-styled affair!

Destination Fashion 2016 will feature an interactive evening hosted by Honorary Chairs Gloria & Emilio Estefan, Tommy Lee Jones & wife Dawn, and Brittany & Christian Slater. Savannah Guthrie, Co-Anchor of NBC’s Today Show, will serve as Emcee. At the event guests will travel through the progressive party that showcases fashion and culture trends through the Decades – 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s. Global music icon Pitbull will perform live, and luxury brand Brunello Cucinelli will be the featured designer to showcase their Spring 2016 Collection. A major highlight of the event is the opportunity to bid on the magnificent “Too Good to Keep Silent Auction” items donated by retailers at the Bal Harbour Shops.

The evening honors the 2015 Women of Substance & Style, accompanied by their Celebrity Presenters, along with the presentation of the Presenting Sponsor Award to Swanee and Paul DiMare, Humanitarian Award to Stanley Whitman, Randy Whitman and Matthew Whitman Lazenby, The Christine E. Lynn Champion for a Cure Award to Micky and Madeleine Arison, The Outstanding Philanthropists Award recipients will be Gloria and Emilio Estefan, and The Miami Project Spirit of Giving Award will go to Edie Laquer.

The 2016 Women of Substance and Style are: Susan Abraham, Pennie Abramson, Gabrielle Anwar, Kelly Arison, Tracey Berkowitz, Cynthia Boich, Mercedes Carlson, Jordan Claure, Orianne Collins, Linda Corey, Kristin Ducote, Bobi Eroncig, Lian Fanjul de Azqueta, Ana de Figueroa Cisneros, Katherine Fernandez Rundle, Shelley Golden, Melinda Gonzalez, Becky Haggard McCarron, Teresa Haskett, Amy Hollub, Wendy Holman, Kinga Lampert, Kristin Lazenby, Lisa Leslie, Sandra Levy, Marile Lopez, Jayne Malfitano, Christina Martin, Ashley Moore, Suzanne Murphy, Nan O’Leary, Laura Posada, Melissa Posner, Barbara Reese, Laura Roberts, Kathy Simkins, Lydia Touzet, and Gigi Whitman.

To reserve sponsorships, tables and tickets, please call Stephanie Sayfie Aagaard at 305-243-4656 or email SAagaard@Miami.edu
About The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis
Nick & Marc Buoniconti In 1985, Barth A. Green, M.D. and NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Nick Buoniconti helped found The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis after Nick’s son, Marc, sustained a spinal cord injury during a college football game. Today, The Miami Project is the world’s most comprehensive spinal cord injury (SCI) research center, and a designated Center of Excellence at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. The Miami Project’s international team is housed in the Lois Pope LIFE Center and includes more than 300 scientists, researchers, clinicians and support staff who take innovative approaches to the challenges of spinal cord and brain injuries. Committed to finding a cure for paralysis resulting from spinal cord injury and to seeing millions worldwide walk again, the Buoniconti family established The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis in 1992, a non-profit organization devoted to assisting The Miami Project achieve its national and international goals.

This is an unbelievable time for The Buoniconti Fund and The Miami Project’s research and for medical history. In late July 2012, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave permission to The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis to begin a revolutionary Phase 1 clinical trial to evaluate the safety of transplanting human Schwann cells in patients with acute (recent) spinal cord injuries. Found mainly in the peripheral nervous system, Schwann cells are essential to sending appropriate electrical signals through the nervous system, and Miami Project scientists and supporters believe they are key to finding cures for paralysis. The Miami Project Physicians and researchers have enrolled the first participants in this Phase 1 clinical trial, part of the Christine E. Lynn Clinical Trials Initiative at The Miami Project. These first participants are doing well and the team is moving forward with the trial. In parallel to this acute study, The Miami Project has begun a human Schwann cell transplantation clinical trial in chronically injured individuals to test the safety of human Schwann cells. There are millions of people living with chronic spinal cord injury paralysis (those paralyzed for a year or more) that will benefit from this experimental procedure. Never in the history of spinal cord injury research have the prospects of finding a cure for paralysis been better.