Doha’s Franca Fund Gala Raises $4 Million for Preventive Genomics

A day after Fashion Trust Arabia’s awards ceremony, the fashion world reconvened for a more intimate cause: honoring the legacy of the late Vogue Italia editor Franca Sozzani while raising funds to advance preventive genomics research.

Franca Sozzani was a renowned Italian journalist and the editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia from 1988 until she passed away in 2016. Sozzani was known for using Vogue Italia and fashion as a platform for social commentary – publishing groundbreaking issues on domestic violence, the BP oil spill, and plastic surgery.

Sunday’s inaugural Franca Fund Gala at the Museum of Islamic Art drew a heavyweight guest list, including Anna Wintour, Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Queen Rania of Jordan, and Francesco Carrozzini — Sozzani’s son and cofounder of the Franca Sozzani Fund for Preventive Genomics.

The mission: to raise more than $4 million for medical research at Harvard Medical School and Mass General Brigham. Carrozzini gave an emotional keynote in honor of his late mother, emphasizing her fearless, boundary-pushing approach to creativity and framing the fund’s mission as making cutting-edge preventive genomics accessible rather than a privilege.