Award-Winning Broadcast Journalist Paula Zahn Honored at ADDF’s Hope on the Horizon Palm Beach Virtual Event

Palm Beach, FL, March 8, 2021 –The Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) honored nine-time Emmy Award-winning journalist Paula Zahn at the Fourth Annual Hope on the Horizon virtual event, held on March 4. Zahn received the Hope on the Horizon Award for her outstanding support of the ADDF’s research-based mission.

The event raised more than $800,000, every dollar of which will go toward drug discovery research to prevent, treat and cure Alzheimer's disease. The ADDF is the only charity focused solely on finding new drugs for Alzheimer’s. ADDF board member and event founder, Nancy Goodes, co-chaired the event with board member Bonnie Lautenberg and Heidi McWilliams.

Zahn has served on the ADDF’s Board of Governors for the past nine years. Since her mother’s diagnosis almost a decade ago, Alzheimer’s has greatly affected her and her family. She has become a dedicated advocate who works tirelessly in support of the prevention, treatment and cure of Alzheimer’s disease.

In her tribute segment, Zahn remarked, “I am incredibly honored to be recognized by the ADDF for my work for this critically important cause, which is near and dear to the many people impacted by Alzheimer’s. I am confident the work of the ADDF will someday lead to a treatment for Alzheimer's and hopefully even a cure. It is a privilege to have joined this organization in the fight against this horrible disease.”

Zahn is the executive producer and host of Discovery ID’s “On the Case with Paula Zahn,” a weekly investigative crime show. She also hosts WNET’s “NYC-Arts,” a weekly program that celebrates New York’s vibrant cultural scene. She has garnered many prestigious honors, including six Gracie Awards, two National Headliner Awards and career recognition from the Museum of Television and Radio. An accomplished cellist who began playing at the age of five, Zahn has performed with the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall and at the Kennedy Center with the National Symphony Orchestra.

Among those paying tribute to Zahn were family members, ADDF’s co-founder and co-chairman Leonard A. Lauder and his wife, Judy Glickman Lauder, ADDF CEO Mark Roithmayr, and Henry Schleiff, Group President of Investigation Discovery.

Lauder said, “There is no one quite like Paula. She is a talented journalist, a compassionate and loving mother, daughter and friend, and a dedicated champion for the ADDF. Paula and her family are an inspiration to everyone who faces the decline of a loved one affected by Alzheimer's.”

Palm Beach realtor Chris Leavitt, an ADDF supporter whose father has been suffering with Alzheimer’s for the past four years, spoke about how the disease has impacted his family.

Leavitt also led an engaging discussion with several members of the ADDF’s Young Professionals Committee, including YPC co-chair Gina Holzheimer, Marlee Berliner, Rachel Berliner Williams, and Aaron Tell.

The event featured a panel discussion, led by Dr. Howard Fillit, ADDF’s Founding Executive Director and Chief Science Officer, that focused on the latest developments in Alzheimer’s research, including several promising phase 2 clinical trials. Other expert panelists were Dr. Giacomo Koch, M.D., Ph.D., neurologist and neuroscientist at the Santa Lucia Foundation in Rome, and Dr. Ana C. Pereira, M.D., cognitive neurologist and neuroscientist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

The Palm Beach virtual event would not have been possible without the generosity of our supporters: Judy and Leonard A. Lauder, Heidi and Tom McWilliams, Nancy Goodes and Melvin R. Goodes, Bonnie Lautenberg, Beacon Trust, Continental Grain Foundation, Judy and Howard Bernick, Marsha Laufer, Larry Leeds, Elise and Marc Lefkowitz, MorseLife Health System, Inc, Kathie and Michael Pierce, Toni and Martin Sosnoff, David Zaslav and Discovery, Robert Kraft, Jay and Jill Bernstein, Merryl and James Tisch, and many more.