Women’s Board of Barrow Neurological Foundation
Founded in 1961, the Barrow Neurological Institute was conceived by three visionaries: Charles A. Barrow, Sister Mary Placida, and John R. Green, M.D. Under the leadership of Drs. Green, Spetzler, and Lawton, Barrow have grown from blueprints to one of the foremost neurological institutes in the world.
Three years after the conception of the Barrow Neurological Institute, the Women’s Board of Barrow Neurological Foundation was established, with Lou Davenport Cases appointed the first Chairman. Drs. John Green and Loyal Davis selected the original 27 dedicated women to be on this Board. These women brought a passion for funding neurologic research while fostering interest in the community and the need for financial support for the Institute.
Over the last 60 years, the Women’s Board of the Barrow Neurological Foundation has flourished into a group of 79 steadfast philanthropists, raising more than $110 million for the Barrow Neurological.
The Barrow Grand Ball
Established in 1965, the Women’s Board has raised $124 million for the Barrow Neurological Institute through its annual gala, the Barrow Grand Ball. These funds have helped Barrow physicians, researchers, and clinicians offer hope through research and treatments that save lives and improve the quality of life.
The 2025 Barrow Grand Ball raised a record-breaking $14M to support neuroscience research.
The generous philanthropy of the Women’s Board through the Barrow Grand Ball drives cutting-edge innovation and research that is critical to advancing our mission of saving lives.
Michael T. Lawton, MD
President & CEO of Barrow Neurological Institute
Special Projects, Special Support
A tradition since 2006, the Women’s Board annually selects a specific Barrow research department to receive special funding, designating it as their “Women’s Board Project,” which shines a light on innovative research that can have a measurable impact on patients’ lives. To date, the Women’s Board has raised $8 million for these targeted projects.
The 2024 Women’s Board Project funded the new state-of-the-art anechoic research chamber at Barrow’s Department of ENT & Skull Base Surgery, which will lead groundbreaking investigations into the link between hearing loss and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia. The Women’s Board has selected the Alzheimer’s and Memory Disorders Program as the 2025 Women’s Board Project.
Committed to Community Education
Supporting Barrow Neuro Nursing
FY24 Stewardship Report.
See how the Women’s Board made a difference in 2024 by downloading the FY24 Women’s Board of Barrow Neurological Foundation Stewardship Report below.
60 years of Service
Thanks to a generous donor, all gifts made to the Ivy Brain Tumor Center at Barrow Neurological Institute will be doubled!
60 years of Support
Thanks to a generous donor, all gifts made to the Ivy Brain Tumor Center at Barrow Neurological Institute will be doubled!
The Barrow Grand Ball
Thanks to a generous donor, all gifts made to the Ivy Brain Tumor Center at Barrow Neurological Institute will be doubled!
Special Projects, Special Support
Thanks to a generous donor, all gifts made to the Ivy Brain Tumor Center at Barrow Neurological Institute will be doubled!
The Barrow Grand Ball
Thanks to a generous donor, all gifts made to the Ivy Brain Tumor Center at Barrow Neurological Institute will be doubled!
Special Projects, Special Support
Thanks to a generous donor, all gifts made to the Ivy Brain Tumor Center at Barrow Neurological Institute will be doubled!
The Barrow Grand Ball
Thanks to a generous donor, all gifts made to the Ivy Brain Tumor Center at Barrow Neurological Institute will be doubled!
Community Education
Thanks to a generous donor, all gifts made to the Ivy Brain Tumor Center at Barrow Neurological Institute will be doubled!
Community Education
Thanks to a generous donor, all gifts made to the Ivy Brain Tumor Center at Barrow Neurological Institute will be doubled!
Community Education
Thanks to a generous donor, all gifts made to the Ivy Brain Tumor Center at Barrow Neurological Institute will be doubled!
The Barrow Grand Ball
Thanks to a generous donor, all gifts made to the Ivy Brain Tumor Center at Barrow Neurological Institute will be doubled!
Community Education
Thanks to a generous donor, all gifts made to the Ivy Brain Tumor Center at Barrow Neurological Institute will be doubled!
Special Projects, Special Support
Thanks to a generous donor, all gifts made to the Ivy Brain Tumor Center at Barrow Neurological Institute will be doubled!
The Barrow Grand Ball
Thanks to a generous donor, all gifts made to the Ivy Brain Tumor Center at Barrow Neurological Institute will be doubled!
60 years of Leadership & Philanthropy
Thanks to a generous donor, all gifts made to the Ivy Brain Tumor Center at Barrow Neurological Institute will be doubled!
60 years of Leadership & Philanthropy
Thanks to a generous donor, all gifts made to the Ivy Brain Tumor Center at Barrow Neurological Institute will be doubled!
The Barrow Grand Ball
Thanks to a generous donor, all gifts made to the Ivy Brain Tumor Center at Barrow Neurological Institute will be doubled!
60 years of Leadership & Philanthropy
Thanks to a generous donor, all gifts made to the Ivy Brain Tumor Center at Barrow Neurological Institute will be doubled!
Barrow Grand Ball
In a storied tradition dating back to 1965, the Women’s Board of Barrow Neurological Foundation holds the Barrow Grand Ball each year to celebrate Barrow Neurological Institute’s far-reaching medical research and innovative treatments and thank all the generous donors who support its mission.
From the first Ball held on New Year’s Eve in 1965 at Paradise Valley’s former Casa Blanca Inn, which netted $26,000, exceptional women in the Phoenix community have stepped forward to carry on this legacy. Since then, the Women’s Board has raised $124 million through its annual Barrow Grand Ball, thanks to the generosity of its members and the community.
The 2025 Barrow Grand Ball raised a record-breaking $14M to support neuroscience research at Barrow Neurological Institute.
Please contact, Megan Slattery, Women’s Board Liaison at 602.406.6333 or email [email protected] for any questions.
Women’s Board Special Project
In 2006, the Women’s Board began a tradition of funding a specific research project on behalf of its members. These projects have been chosen to highlight key areas of research at Barrow that are not only innovative, but also make a measurable impact on patients’ lives. Click the learn more button below for a list of past Special Projects.
The Women’s Board is proud to select the Alzheimer’s and Memory Disorders research efforts as its Special Project for the 2025 Barrow Grand Ball.
Click below for a highlight on Barrow’s Alzheimer’s & Memory Disorders Program with Marwan Sabbagh, MD, FAAN:
2024-2025 Women's Board
Executive Committee
- Dionne Najafi, Chairman
- Erin Gogolak, Chairman-Elect
- Cathy Kleeman & Susan Westra, 2025 Grand Ball Chairs
- Christy Burton & Katie Mueller, 2024 Education Enrichment Night Chairs
- Julie Rauch, Recording Secretary
- Prue Brito, Corresponding Secretary
- Shaun Bracken, Treasurer
- Amy Flood, Finance Chair
- Terry Roman, Membership Chair
- Carole Moreno, Nominating Chair
- Barbara Henward, Parliamentarian/Bylaws
- Nita Francis, Neuroscience Nursing Fund
- Kathy Munson & Andrea Pappas, Communications
- Sarah Suggs & Nancy Walker, Traditions
- Jan Lewis, Immediate Past Chairman
Full Membership List
- Kathleen O. Barrow
- Catherine Bentley
- Shaun Bracken
- Prue Brito
- Christy Burton
- Jan Cacheris
- Martha “Muffie” Churchill
- Amy Cohn
- Robyn DeBell
- Ann Denk
- Jacquie Dorrance
- Judy Shannon Edens
- Jane Edmunds
- Stevie Eller
- Nancy Hanley Eriksson
- Ardie Evans
- Amy Flood
- Sydney Fox
- Nita Francis
- Shan Francis
- Harriet Friedland
- Nancy Gaintner
- Dyan Getz
- Sandy Getz
- Erin Gogolak
- Penny Gunning
- Betsy Haenel
- Carrie Hall
- Marilyn W. Harris
- Sandy Hecomovich
- Barbara Henward
- Judy Hewson
- Suzi Hilton
- Karen Hobbs
- Mary Hudak
- Carrie Hulburd
- Michelle Kerrick
- Cathy Kleeman
- Julie Kroot
- Robyn Lee
- Jan Lewis
- Janis Lyon
- Sandy Magruder
- Bonnie Martin
- Beth Matthews
- Mary Ellen McKee
- Tahnia McKeever
- Jean Meenaghan
- Angela Melczer
- Sandy Metzler
- Karen Meyer
- Diane Might
- Kolby Moffatt
- Elizabeth “Betsy” Moore
- Carole Moreno
- Katie Mueller
- Kathy Munson
- Dionne Najafi
- Carolyn O’Malley
- Andrea Pappas
- Marilyn Parke
- Becky Pierson
- Vim Phillips
- Linda Rakow
- Julie Rauch
- Terry Roman
- Judy Schubert
- Judy Shannon Edens
- Susie Small
- Jean Spangler
- Sarah E. Suggs
- Kristine Thompson
- Amy Thurston
- Sharon Ulrich
- Nancy Walker
- Mary Ward
- Christine Watson
- Susan Westra
- Gay Firestone Wray
- Sister Madonna Marie Bolton, Honorary Member
60 Years of the Barrow Women's Board
1965
The Women’s Board of Barrow Neurological Foundation is established. Its inaugural Barrow Grand Ball, held at the Casa Blanca Inn on New Year’s Eve 1965, nets $26,000 for neurological research.
1983
With funding from the J. N. Harber Foundation, the Women’s Board endows the Chair of Neurological Surgery, which is used to recruit the Institute’s next leader, Robert F. Spetzler, MD.
1998
The Women’s Board holds its inaugural Education Enrichment Evening to increase public awareness about Barrow, its services, and its contributions to medicine.
2006
The Women’s Board initiated a new fundraising concept of selecting a specific Barrow research department and designating it as an annual “Special Project.” In 2011, the Ivy Brain Tumor Center at Barrow Neurological Institute was designated as the Special Project, providing initial funding for the new center. To date, special projects have raised more than $8M for Barrow departments.
2015
The Barrow Women’s Board celebrates its 50th Anniversary while this same year welcomed Michael T. Lawton, MD as Barrow’s third President and CEO.
2024
The Women’s Board Special Project funds Barrow’s Department of ENT’s new state-of-the-art anechoic research chamber, which will lead groundbreaking investigations into the link between hearing loss and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia.
2025
The Women’s Board of Barrow Neurological Foundation celebrates 60 years of supporting Barrow Neurological Institute. To date, the group has raised a record total of $110M for research, patient care, and outreach for Barrow.
In the News
January 24, 2025
2025 Barrow Grand Ball Raises Record-Breaking $14M to Support Neuroscience Research
The Women’s Board of Barrow Neurological Foundation announced today that its 60th Barrow Grand Ball, held on January 18, 2025, raised $14 million for Barrow Neurological Institute.
The 2025 Barrow Grand Ball co-chairs, Cathy Kleeman and Susan Westra, worked tirelessly leading fundraising efforts to help Barrow physicians, scientists, and clinicians offer hope through research and treatments that save lives and improve the quality of life. Thanks to research at Barrow, individuals suffering from neurological conditions such as stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, ALS, aneurysms and AVMs, diabetes, concussion, headache, brain tumors, spinal disorders, and more have reason for hope.
March 18, 2024
Leading Alzheimer’s Researcher Dr. Marwan Sabbagh Receives Moreno Family Chair for Alzheimer’s Research
Barrow Neurological Foundation is proud to announce that Carole and Arte Moreno have established the Moreno Family Chair for Alzheimer’s Research in the Alzheimer’s and Memory Disorders Program at Barrow Neurological Institute. Mrs. Moreno is a longtime member of the Women’s Board of Barrow Neurological Foundation, and the generous gift was made through the Barrow Grand Ball, the annual gala of the Women’s Board.
Marwan Sabbagh, MD, FAAN, is a top neurologist in the Barrow Alzheimer’s and Memory Disorders program, director of the Applied Alzheimer’s Research Laboratory, Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Neurology, and the newly appointed Moreno Family Chair for Alzheimer’s Research. Dr. Sabbagh is the author of six books and more than 400 research publications. He also is a principal investigator on more than 100 clinical trials. Dr. Sabbagh was presented with the chair on March 8, 2024, during a ceremony held at Barrow Neurological Institute with the Morenos, members of the Barrow Women’s Board, members of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees, and his colleagues in attendance.
January 24, 2024
Barrow Women’s Board Raises $9.9 Million Through 2024 Barrow Grand Ball
Barrow Women’s Board 59th Barrow Grand Ball Raises Record Funding for Innovations in Hearing Health.
The Women’s Board of Barrow Neurological Foundation announced today that it raised $9.9 million for Barrow Neurological Institute through the 59th Barrow Grand Ball on January 20, 2024.
This year’s Ball Co-Chairs, Carrie Hulburd and Kathy Munson, along with the committed members of the Women’s Board and its donors, raised funds to help Barrow physicians, researchers, and clinicians offer hope through research and treatments that save lives and improve the quality of life.
January 31, 2023
$1.5M Gift from the Steele Foundation Launches Fellowship in Barrow Alzheimer’s and Memory Disorders Program
Barrow Neurological Foundation is proud to announce that the Steele Foundation has endowed the Dan Cracchiolo and Pam Grant Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry Fellowship in the Alzheimer’s and Memory Disorders Program at Barrow Neurological Institute. The generous $1.5 million endowment was made through the Barrow Grand Ball, the Women’s Board of Barrow Neurological Foundation’s annual gala, which reached a lifetime milestone of $100 million raised since the 1965 inaugural Ball. Pam Grant is a longtime member of the Women’s Board. The Steele Foundation has an extensive history of supporting education at Barrow, including establishing the Horace W. Steele Chair in Neurosurgical Innovation and Education in 1997.
January 26, 2023
Barrow Women’s Board Reaches Milestone of $100M Raised Through Barrow Grand Ball
The 2023 Ball raised an incredible $7 million in support of the neurosciences.
The Women’s Board of Barrow Neurological Foundation netted over $7 million for Barrow Neurological Institute through the 2023 Barrow Grand Ball, reaching an unprecedented lifetime milestone of $100 million raised since their 1965 inaugural Ball. This year’s Ball Co-Chairs, Amy Cohn and Erin Gogolak, galvanized Women’s Board members’ and donors’ passion for supporting the research and programs of Barrow’s world-renowned physicians, scientists, and clinicians.
“The magnitude of achievingthe lifetime $100 million mark islaudable, given the first Barrow GrandBall 58 years ago earned $26,000,” said 2023 Women’s Board Chairman Diane Might. Our Board is an accomplished, dynamic, and influential group of women dedicated to supporting Barrow Neurological Institute. Our members’ passionate advocacy for “bench-to-bedside” research and treatment helps save lives and improves the quality of life for those suffering from brain and spinal disorders.”
May 31, 2022
Barrow Establishes Lewis Headache Center with Generous Gift from Jan and Tom Lewis
Barrow Neurological Foundation is honored to announce the creation of the Lewis Headache Center at Barrow Neurological Institute thanks to a generous gift from Jan and Tom Lewis. The news comes just in time for National Migraine and Headache Awareness Month, which is recognized during the month of June. “I have personally benefited from the comprehensive approach to migraine treatment and prevention that Dr. Kerry Knievel and her team provide,” said Jan Lewis. “Our family’s support of headache care at Barrow over the years has helped increase the quality and quantity of patient care. This gift will further that, leading to more patient care options and research to find innovative treatments.”
Barrow Women’s Board raises record $10.4 million through 2022 Barrow Grand Ball
February 2, 2021
Barrow Women’s Board raises record $8.5 million through 2021 Barrow Grand Ball
The Women’s Board of the Barrow Neurological Foundation raised more than $8.5 million for Barrow Neurological Institute through the 2021 Barrow Grand Ball, “A Grand Toast to Barrow.” Women’s Board members Diane Might and Kolby Moffatt co-chaired the event and galvanized members and donors during one of the most challenging times in recent history.
For the first time in its storied history, the Barrow Grand Ball was celebrated virtually, held on January 23, 2021 via an exclusive invitation for supporters. The video celebration showcased the Women’s Board’s fundraising accomplishments and highlighted its impact on several Barrow programs.
June 5, 2020
Dorrance Family Establishes Vascular Neurology Chair at Barrow
The Barrow Neurological Foundation is pleased to announce the establishment of the Dorrance Chair of Vascular Neurology for the Stroke Program at Barrow Neurological Institute. Michael Waters, MD, PhD, chief of the Barrow Division of Vascular Neurology and director of the Stroke Program, will be the named chair.
This endowment allows dedicated time for Dr. Waters’ groundbreaking research to identify genetic mechanisms of stroke and to develop drugs to minimize the damage caused by stroke. This critical research could change stroke outcomes for patients in Arizona and around the world.
January 21, 2020
Barrow Grand Ball 2020 Raises Record $8.3 Million for Research
The Women’s Board of the Barrow Neurological Foundation raised a record $8.3 million for Barrow Neurological Institute through the 2020 Barrow Grand Ball. Women’s Board members Tahnia McKeever and Christine Watson co-chaired the black-tie gala held January 18 at the Arizona Biltmore, a Waldorf Astoria Resort. Amy Thurston is the 2020 chairman of the Women’s Board, which has supported Barrow for 55 years, raising more than $75 million for life-changing initiatives.
July 11, 2019
Najafi Family Establishes Neurosurgical Oncology Chair at Barrow
Francis and Dionne Najafi have endowed the Neurosurgical Oncology Chair at Barrow Neurological Institute. This endowed fund at the Barrow Neurological Foundation will be used to match donations for brain tumor research for the next decade. Dr. Nader Sanai, Director of the Ivy Brain Tumor Center at Barrow Neurological Institute, has been named the chair.
January 30, 2019
Barrow Women’s Board Raises $5.2 million through 2019 Barrow Grand Ball
The Women’s Board of the Barrow Neurological Foundation raised net proceeds in excess of $5.2 million for Barrow Neurological Institute through the 2019 Barrow Grand Ball held on January 26 at the Arizona Biltmore, a Waldorf Astoria Resort. The black-tie soiree was co-chaired by Dionne Najafi and Terry Roman to celebrate Barrow philanthropists who participate in giving through the group. The Women’s Board, led by Chairwoman Robyn Lee, has supported world-class Barrow Neurological institute for more than 54 years and contributed more than $61 million to fund life-changing research.
January 31, 2018
Barrow Women’s Board raises $3 million through 2018 Grand Ball
The Women’s Board of Barrow Neurological Foundation raised $3 million for Barrow Neurological Institute through the 2018 Barrow Grand Ball. Held on January 20 at the Arizona Biltmore, and co-chaired by Jan Cacheris and Carrie Hall, the Ball celebrated the philanthropic achievements of the Women’s Board. This year, the Women’s Board, led by Board Chair Ann Denk, focused their efforts on raising funds for Alzheimer’s disease research.
June 17, 2017
Barrow to introduce leading migraine treatment program with $2 million gift from T.W. Lewis Foundation
With approximately 37 million people suffering from migraines in North America, the Jan & Tom Lewis Migraine Treatment Program at Barrow Neurological Institute is set to make a difference in the lives of those affected.
The T.W. Lewis Foundation, founded by Tom and Jan Lewis, recently gifted $2 million in order to establish the Jan & Tom Lewis Migraine Treatment Program, which will offer multidisciplinary patient care options and lead research and clinical trials to improve treatments and find cures.
July 2, 2016
Petznick and Stewart families donate generously to MS research
Beverly Stewart and the Petznick family continue their generous record of support to St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center with a $1.1 million gift establishing an endowed chair position in multiple sclerosis (MS) at Barrow Neurological Institute. The donation mirrors a commitment by the family to improve MS treatments by accelerating research that aims to pinpoint causes for this inflammatory disease.