Blossom Ball 2025 - Endometriosis Foundation of America
May 15, 2025
Pierre Hotel in New York City
Tamer Seckin, MD
Please welcome journalist, EndoFound Ambassador, and the executive producer and host of EndoTV, Diana Falzone.
Evening, everyone. What a powerful and moving film. For many of us with endo, our pain has been dismissed, and our disease made to feel invisible. But tonight, we are seen, we are heard, and we are validated.
To the five brave women who shared their stories—thank you. Your courage and vulnerability embody exactly why we’re here tonight. If you're comfortable, I’d love for you to join me along with Dr. Seckin now so we can recognize and honor you. So please, come up.
Thank you so much. I'm Diana Falzone—a journalist, mother, EndoFound ambassador, and a woman living with endometriosis.
It is my honor to welcome you to the Endometriosis Foundation of America's Blossom Ball, an evening of celebration, community, and giving. Tonight, we're raising critical funds to support EndoFound’s four pillars: research, education, awareness, and advocacy. These are the foundations that drive change and bring us closer to a world where no one suffers from endometriosis without support, answers, or care.
Thank you for being a part of this movement.
Now, it is my pleasure to introduce someone who has dedicated his life—and I mean his life—to advancing the care and understanding of endometriosis.
Dr. Tamer Seckin is the co-founder of the Endometriosis Foundation of America and a true pioneer in the diagnosis and surgical treatment of this incredibly complex disease. His tireless work has brought hope to thousands of women, and those born with a uterus, who were once dismissed or misdiagnosed—including me. I’m one of the one in ten living with endometriosis.
And just when you think he's done it all, he takes another bold step forward. Only two weeks ago, EndoFound partnered with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory to launch the Seckin Endometriosis Research Center for Women's Health. A groundbreaking—
That’s right. That’s right—
A groundbreaking $20 million initiative focused on advancing endometriosis research and transforming care for millions of women.
That’s right—he’s still changing the game, still pushing boundaries, and still making history.
Please join me in welcoming my friend, our champion, and global leader in women’s health—Dr. Tamer Seckin.
Thank you. Thank you.
Good evening. Good evening, everyone. How exciting. How amazing to see you—all of you—here tonight. This is our 13th year at Blossom Ball, a night of gratitude, a milestone in the making.
Your presence here truly represents at least 200 million women with endometriosis around the world, and your support truly makes a difference.
Endometriosis is a disease deeply tied—it's hard to say—deeply tied to menstruation. And in the history of humankind, menstruation marked women as, unfortunately, impure, unstable, untrustworthy.
What should have been biology became stigma. What should have been empathy became exclusion. And endometriosis became the physical manifestation of that injustice against women.
That is why EndoFound was created: to educate, advocate, and amplify the voices of women who could no longer be ignored.
Together—let me tell you something—together, this foundation has changed the narrative. Not just in the U.S., but all around the world. We built a moment—an incredible movement.
Now we enter a new chapter. Science has advanced dramatically. With the internet, two decades ago we changed everything. And now we live in the age of AI—a huge revolution—where information is exchanged and processed at the speed of light.
You all know about Ozempic. Ozempic and Mounjaro—one molecule changed the course of obesity. And that one molecule, in one month, lets people lose 30 pounds, or more. It is probably going to prevent diabetes. Possibly, we may be living longer lives. It'll define our longevity.
That means no lap band surgeries for surgeons.
In the same way, one molecule may change everything about endometriosis, too. We are hoping for that. Because endometriosis is a molecular disease—genetic, familial, and hereditary.
Today, we are going straight to the source.
The new center at Cold Spring Harbor, as Diana mentioned, is real. And for the first time in history, there is a research center in the world dedicated exclusively to endometriosis.
This is where science is data-driven and future-focused.
And two weeks ago, as Diana said, we launched this center.
I’d like to thank Marilyn Simons—I don’t know if she’s here—and Dr. Semir Beyaz, who opened the doors to this collaboration. Are you here, Dr. Beyaz? Please stand up. Please. Thank you. Thank you for everything.
I want to thank Billy Joel and Alexis Joel, who joined us to cut the ribbon and for their support.
Finally, I express my gratitude to Ms. Madeline Rudin for her generous donation to the center.
Let’s be optimistic and imagine this for the future:
A girl who doesn’t miss school.
A teenager whose first period isn’t a life sentence.
A woman who doesn’t lose her uterus or ovaries.
And a patient who is diagnosed, without a scalpel.
That is the world we are building.
My name is just a symbol—an immortal symbol. This center does not belong to me. It belongs to you. To the women with endometriosis. To your families. To your daughters. And to those yet to be born. This center is their center.
Tonight, some of the leaders of this movement are here with us. I really want you to stand up. The women with endometriosis—please stand up. Let’s give a big ovation to them.
Thank you. Thank you—such great, courageous women.
And now, as I’m finishing, let me offer my deepest thanks to those who made this possible.
Of course, Padma, who couldn’t be here. She always apologizes—and we accept that.
Our new EndoFound chair, Dr. Piraye Yurttas Beim, is here.
Madeline Rudin.
Dr. Dan Martin.
My dear friend and my partner in practice, Dr. Amanda Chu, is in the operating room.
And our EndoFound team—Jean, Sarper, Claire, and Andrew—thank you so much. Claire. Leslie.
To my office team—they are here. Thank you.
And to my wife and my children, thank you for supporting this mission year after year.
Thank you.
