Celebrating Houston’s World-Class Medical Community, ‘Brave Heart’ Gala Is a Good Time After a Trying Year

Celebrating Houston’s World-Class Medical Community, ‘Brave Heart’ Gala Is a Good Time After a Trying Year

Claire Davis, Jessica Bernica, Liz Bernica and Annie Bernica

IF THERE'S A group of Houstonians worthy of being celebrated in 2021, it's our medical professionals. The Brave Heart gala, chaired by June and Kenneth Mattox, toasted the contributions of the medical community and raised funds for the Health Museum.


Held at the Four Seasons, the evening started off with a soundtrack by Divisi Strings' Amp'd Quartet. Two hundred guests were seated for dinner and a program that included a testimony from transplant surgeon Ronald Cotton, who said he was inspired to pursue med school after a visit to the Health Museum in high school.

A "gift wall," sponsored by Tenenbaum Jewelers, touted enviable party favors, and the live auction — with items like a Colorado vacation, diamond earrings and a private tour of the Michael E. DeBakey Library and Museum with Dr. Mattox — contributed to the evening's total till of $317,000.

A DJ from Divisi Strings ensured every guest got on their feet by spinning tunes from the'70s, '80s, '90s and beyond.

Kenneth and June Mattox, Greg and Liz Bernica and John Arcidiacono

Swan and Theo Franklin

Elsie Whitmire

Susan and Ward Pennebaker

Sujit Prabhu and Yvonne Kew

Ron Cotton

Russell Wellstead and Danielle Bennet Wellstead

Stacy Davis

Annette Monks

Parties

A next-gen artificial heart from BiVACOR has successfully been implanted in a patient at Texas Heart Institute. The patient survived more than a week, until a donor heart was found for a transplant.

THE PIONEERING CARDIOVASCULAR inventors and surgeons at The Texas Heart Institute (THI) in the Texas Medical Center have made another huge leap forward in the treatment of heart disease, officially announcing yesterday what they’re calling a “monumental advancement."

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People + Places

Rachel Gardner with her flower necklaces and, at left, Calla Lilly necklace

ON SATURDAY JULY 27, Foltz Gallery presents Endless Summer, a lively, playful exhibit of works by a multi-generational group of 28 emerging and established Texas-based artists. Taking its name from the 1974 Beach Boys double-album, which compiled the group’s early 1960s hit singles, the show is a visual “mixtape” of colorful paintings, prints, photographs, wall-based installations, ceramics and sculptures, installed lovingly throughout Foltz’s spacious and sunlit galleries. Among the works in Endless Summer are several examples of handmade “sculptural jewelry” by artist Rachel Gardner — a series of wearable wildflowers and fruits, including olives and strawberries.

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Art + Entertainment