Arts & Entertainment

Sharon Stone And Alek Wek Celebrate DNDi Making Medical History

Sharon Stone and Alek Wek came out to support all of the medical achievements made by DNDi. See highlights from the ceremony below!

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The Drugs For Neglected Diseases Initiative DNDi celebrated 15 years of bringing the best science to the world's most neglected patients at the Bowery Hotel on Wednesday evening. In its 15-year history, the DNDi has developed seven treatments for five deadly diseases - malaria, sleeping sickness, Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, and pediatric HIV.

Sharon Stone, Alek Wek, Dikembe Mutombo, and Kathleen Chalfant attended the event and shared their personal stories.

Check out highlights from Daniela's Lens below:

6:15 p.m.
I arrive at the Bowery Hotel and set up at the red carpet. Sharon Stone is on the guest list. I can't wait to see her!

6:24 p.m.
Actress Kathleen Chalfant is first.

6:44 p.m.
DJ Logic, musician Falu Shah and NBA Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo.

Supermodel Alek Wek

6:48 p.m.

6:56 p.m.
And there is Sharon Stone!
During the award dinner, she will tell us about her experience filming in Africa:
"The Zimbabweans made us the rain gods, and we had to eat crocodile. And for me who was a vegetarian at that time, it was interesting... But they said if I eat crocodile I wouldn't be eaten by a crocodile!"

7:01 p.m.
Sharon Stone looks stunning!
About filming King Solomon's Mines in the 80s:
"I ended up living in Africa for almost two years. So, I was there during the apartheid war."

7:01 p.m.
Sharon Stone says hello to Alek Wek.

7:03 p.m.
Alek Wek and Sharon Stone are holding hands.

7:05 p.m.
Sharon Stone gives interviews.

7:06 p.m.
The carpet is done.
I'm invited to join the dinner and the award celebration. I sit next to two doctors.
"Your job is so interesting!" they say to me.
"That's true, but it's not very important. You are saving lives. That's important!" I say.
"But without the press, nobody would know what we do..." one of them says.

9:18 p.m.
Sharon Stone goes on stage and shares her very personal story when filming in Africa:
"I started to hemorrhage out of the blue, and it wouldn't stop, and I had to go to the hospital in Zimbabwe. And I was put on a gurney around the hall.
I was not a priority because there were so many people dying and nobody knew why. It was the beginning of the AIDS crisis."

9:22 p.m.
"I lay in a hall, and I bled for days, and I watched a lot of people die. And I watched the horrors of the beginning of men and women and a lot of children dying of AIDS. I never told anybody that, because that's not something anybody wants to know. Nobody wants to know that a 24-year-old girl went to Africa to make a movie and instead watched people die from AIDS. That's not popular, and that's not pretty."

9:34 p.m.
Sharon Stone with Dr. Anthony Fauci, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health.

"You can't imagine how many people I knew who died from AIDS. Who were sick, who were struggling and nobody cared about," she says. "But Dr. Anthony Fauci cared about them. You cared when nobody knew what it was. And you cared all about all the other diseases."
She hands Dr. Fauci the Visionary Award and thanks him for all the good work.

9:45 p.m.
The music program and after party starts. Singer Falu Shah.

9:54 p.m.
It's a great party!

Daniela Kirsch is a renowned entertainment photographer and founder of NameFace — an event photo agency based in New York City. Through her creative expertise and unique visual style, Kirsch not only just knows more than just a thing or two about photographing A-list events, but is forever changing the way we interact with the entertainment industry. In June 2018, Kirsch teamed up with Patch to launch the photo series 'Daniela's Lens' offering weekly features from local events to red carpet magic.

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