Tea time at Fox Chase is such a fantastic tradition.  At 3:30pm every day during the week you can stop by to grab a cookie, a tea (hot or cold!), and chat with our researchers, clinicians, nurses and fellow staff members.  I can hardly fathom the types of conversations and the ideas that get bounced around that have resulted in better treatments, novel research, new collaborations and more.

The check presentation (from left: Jean Shipos, Dr. Eric Ariazi, Lauren Kuik and Lisa Perfidio)

This past Thursday’s tea (September 20) was a “Special Tea” that featured, appropriately enough, the Teal Tea Foundation.  Every year they host a tea party as a fundraising event. This year, the Teal Tea Foundation chose to bring the party to Fox Chase – and we were honored to host the event.  At the tea, Lauren Kuik, President of the Teal Tea Foundation, presented a Fox Chase scientist, Dr. Eric Ariazi, with a grant to support his work in ovarian cancer research.

The Teal Tea Foundation hosted a table decorating contest in our cafeteria with the theme of “teal.”  We honestly didn’t know what to expect and were so impressed the amount of creativity that came from our staff!  Groups from Dr. Connelly’s lab, the Women’s Cancer Center, GYN Service Line, EPEC Committee and IA all decorated tables and made the entire cafeteria look so festive.  Everyone had a great time!  Check out these great decorations in the photos below.

The winning table – Dr. Connelly’s lab

Dr. Mark Morgan, Chief of Gynecologic Surgery, welcomed the crowd, who were treated to the sounds of Our Time Cabaret. Then we had the pleasure of listening to the Teal Tea Foundation’s Executive Director, Jean Shipos, recite her award-winning speech, “It’s Only Hair,” about the experience of losing her hair due to chemotherapy treatments.  Hair is such a strong part of a person’s identity that losing it, particularly for women, can be traumatic.  But as Jean said, “it IS only hair, and some day it will come back.”

Congratulations and thank you to everyone who came out to decorate tables and vote on your favorites!  Thank you also to the Teal Tea Foundation for your support of researchers and for the work you do on behalf of ovarian cancer patients and survivors.

- Suzanne