There was not an empty seat in Sprague Hall on Wednesday night.
An Evening With Judy Collins for the benefit of Womens Health Research at Yale (WHRY) was a huge success, owing to the usually questionable and dicey practice of “re-gifting.”
As the real story goes, as told to the audience by Yale University Secretary Linda Lorimer In top photo), a private concert by Judy Collins was the extraordinary Christmas present from her husband, Charley Ellis. Ever mindful of others and thinking it all too precious not to share, she gained permission, from the performer and her husband, to share the largesse and thus the gift that kept on giving”. It was wonderful! (Charley can add the Dish to the gift list anytime!)
Judy Collins was genuinely happy to help and it resonated through the auditorium with her every note. Her voice is as pure and beautiful as ever. It seemed that the most of the audience knew every lyric to every song and did not require much coaxing to sing along. The frosting on the Christmas cake was that the Presenting Sponsorship provided by Anthem allowed all of the proceeds of the event to be utilized for WHRY. The other sponsors were also incredibly generous.
The gathering was rapt with interest in the passionate remarks of Dr. Carolyn Mazure (pictured), the director of WHRY. Women’s health is often equated with reproductive health. But Mazure, professor of psychiatry and associate dean for faculty affairs, says that while reproductive health is an important focus of women’s health, any illness that afflicts women falls under the purview of WHRY.
Researchers funded by WHRY are generating new data on women’s health in studies on a wide range of topics, including breast cancer, osteoporosis and hormone therapy, and they are finding significant gender differences in diverse areas of study, including epilepsy, addiction and heart disease.
“We are broadening the scope of women’s health,” Mazure says, adding that identifying gender differences in health and disease has “benefits for men as well as for women.”
The audience gave a standing ovation. Bravos and kudos to WHRY, Linda Lorimer, Anthem and, of course, Judy Collins!!!
Re-gifting — ¬¶..right thing to do when it is “ALL FOR THE GREATER GOOD!”