For the first time, the Award dinner also supported the The Franca Sozzani Fund for Preventive Genomics in honour of Sozzani, who succumbed to a rare cancer in 2016. The Franca Fund was established in 2018 by founder of the Franca Sozzani Award,photographer, filmmaker and son of the late Vogue Italia editor Francesco Carrozzini; performing artist and investor D.A. Wallach and Harvard Medical School professor and physician-scientist Dr Robert Green to accelerate the use of genomics in preventive health.
In fashion, as in all walks of life, brilliant and creative individuals and their families are struggling with autism, cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s and other conditions that we now know have largely genetic causes. Tragically, Franca succumbed to a rare cancer in 2016 that might have been prevented with earlier medical surveillance. Such is the case for thousands of patients around the world today who lack access to the risk-assessment and early diagnoses that are offered by preventive genomics.
In Franca’s honour, her son Francesco has established The Franca Sozzani Fund for Preventive Genomics (The Franca Fund) to accelerate the transformation of medicine by promoting the scientific applications of preventive genomics.