JAX–NYSCF Gala 2026: Martha Stewart, the Singhs and a Night Built Around Science

At Cipriani South Street on November 12, the JAX–New York Stem Cell Foundation gala, "Stronger Together: From Lab to Life," honors Martha Stewart and patient advocates Dinakar and Arya Singh.

By The Circuit Report · Published October 12, 2026

Most galas keep the cause at a polite distance from the cocktails. The JAX–NYSCF Gala puts it in the middle of the room. On Thursday, November 12, the New York Stem Cell Foundation, now operating alongside The Jackson Laboratory, gathers at Cipriani South Street for an evening titled "Stronger Together: From Lab to Life," and the program opens and closes with a science fair, so that guests spend the evening among the researchers whose work they are funding. It is an unusually direct format for a New York benefit, and an apt one for an organization whose stated purpose is moving discoveries out of the laboratory and toward patients.

The 2026 honorees reinforce that theme from three directions: a household name in American life, an investor who built a foundation around a rare disease, and a young researcher who has lived that disease and now studies it. Together they make the case that medical progress is a shared project among scientists, patients and the public.

The work behind the evening

This gala supports research intended to move discoveries toward clinical use for diseases including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, cancer and rare conditions. The cause is the long path from laboratory insight to something that can help patients.

The organizer describes gala support as advancing research toward the clinic. NYSCF joined The Jackson Laboratory in 2025, bringing its stem-cell work into a wider nonprofit research institution. An advance in the laboratory or a project moving toward trials is not the same as an available, proven treatment. Explore the official work.

The 2026 invitation honors Martha Stewart as JAX–NYSCF Honorary Scientist and Dinakar and Arya Singh as patient advocates. Kay Unger chairs the host committee, with Gail and Dr. Roy Geronemus and Darcy Miller Nussbaum and Andy Nussbaum as co-chairs. Scientists and patient advocates give the benefit its purpose. Meet the organization.

At a glance

Date: Thursday, November 12, 2026
Time: 6:00 p.m. science fair and cocktails; 7:15 p.m. dinner and honoree celebration; 9:00 p.m. science fair and dessert reception
Venue: Cipriani South Street, Manhattan
Dress code: Not announced; confirm with the organizer
Tickets: Via the official registration page; prices not publicly listed

Chairs and committee

The gala's host committee is led by Kay Unger, Chair, with Darcy Miller Nussbaum & Andy Nussbaum and Gail & Roy Geronemus, MD, serving as Co-Chairs. Both Kay Unger and Roy Geronemus, M.D., also appear on the organization's published board of trustees, a sign of how closely the evening is tied to the institution's leadership.

The committee itself reads like a cross-section of New York design, fashion, media and philanthropy: Dominique Bluhdorn; Nancye Green & Michael Donovan; Jamie Drake; Selby Drummond; Julie Gilhart; Donna Karan; Kay Koplovitz; Mi Jong Lee; John & Lulu McPhee; Neal Milch; Lynne & Greg O'Brien; David Roux; David Rubin; David Shaw; Paula Silver; Mona Sutphen & Clyde Williams; Adriana Trigiani; Sandra (Sandy) Waite; and Janet & Jerry Zucker. Neal B. Milch is listed as chair of the board of trustees, and Sandra Elaine Waite and Dinakar Singh are also among the trustees named on the gala site.

The honorees

Martha Stewart is this year's JAX–NYSCF Honorary Scientist. The gala site recounts a career that began with a catering business in Westport, Connecticut, in 1972 and grew into a media company spanning publishing, television and digital platforms, with more than 100 books to her name. Less widely known is her connection to medicine: in 2007 she established the Martha Stewart Center for Living at Mount Sinai, an interest in healthy aging that makes the honorary title more than ceremonial.

Dinakar Singh and Arya Singh are both recognized as Pioneering Patient Advocates. Dinakar Singh, CEO and founding partner of the investment firm Axon Capital and a former Goldman Sachs partner of fourteen years, co-founded the SMA Foundation in 2003 to accelerate treatments for spinal muscular atrophy and chairs its board; he also sits on the NYSCF board. Arya Singh, born with SMA, is described by the organization as a public health researcher and rare disease advocate, a Ph.D. student at Weill Cornell Medicine who works at NYU Langone, with more than twenty years of experience as a clinical trial participant. She has written a children's book on the ethics of clinical research and serves on three healthcare boards. Honoring them together tells the story of a rare disease from both sides of the trial, which is precisely the bridge the evening's title describes.

No host, emcee or performers have been announced.

What the organization does

The New York Stem Cell Foundation, founded in 2005, describes itself as an independent nonprofit stem cell research institute. Its Manhattan research institute brings together more than 90 biologists, engineers and computer scientists, and it developed a robotic system for producing stem cell lines at scale, tools now used by scientists in many countries. The foundation reports that its community of researchers has developed over 20 therapies that are in or moving toward clinical trials, across more than 80 disease areas.

In July 2025, The Jackson Laboratory announced what it called a landmark alliance with NYSCF, under which JAX would assume NYSCF's operations and assets, subject to approval by the New York Attorney General, with the Manhattan facility provisionally named the JAX–NYSCF Collaborative. The gala, the organization says, will directly advance its research toward the clinic in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, rare diseases, diabetes and cancer. No fundraising goal for the evening has been published.

Why it's on our calendar

There is no shortage of medical benefits in November, but few are designed to let guests actually meet the science. The science-fair format, framing the evening on both ends, turns a dinner into something closer to an open laboratory, and the honorees embody the partnership between patients and researchers that the organization is built around. Add a committee that draws from the city's design and fashion communities, and a downtown waterfront setting, and this is one of the more thoughtful philanthropic evenings of the season. The Circuit Report plans to follow up with coverage of the evening.

How to attend

Tickets and donations are handled through the organization's official registration page, linked from gala.nyscf.org; pricing is not posted on the public gala site. For tables, sponsorship or questions, the gala team can be reached at gala@jax.org or 212-787-4111 ext. 254934, as published on the official site. We recommend booking only through these official channels.

Official links and further reading

Official event information · Official tickets and tables · Our event guide

Details may change; confirm the current program, availability and giving arrangements with the organizer.