MS Awards Dinner

2025 MS Awards Dinner

It is with much appreciation that the Holy Name Foundation thanks all who supported our 2025 MS Center Awards Dinner on Thursday, November 6, 2025 at The Venetian in Garfield, NJ.

Holy Name MS Center patients and staff, health system leadership, donors and friends enjoyed a fabulous evening together, celebrating the Holy Name health system's 100th Anniversary, the MS Center's 40th, and recognizing two esteemed members of the MS community.

The Joan Perkowski Cashin Foundation received The Lawrence R. Inserra Leadership Award. The Joan Perkowski Cashin Foundation honors the legacy of the late Joan Perkowski Cashin, RN, an MS Center grateful patient, by advancing the care of MS patients and families through their longtime support of Holy Name's MS Center, as well as nursing students of the Sister Claire Tynan School of Nursing who pursue the specialty areas in which Joan practiced.

Asya Wallach, MD, received The MS Center Distinguished Service Award. Dr. Wallach is a neurologist specializing in multiple sclerosis at Holy Name, and is known as much for her deeply empathetic approach to patient care as for her clinical and research acumen.

The Impact of Your Participation

The Alfiero & Lucia Palestroni Foundation Multiple Sclerosis Center at Holy Name was the first comprehensive facility of its kind in our region and continues to be the preeminent resource for expert MS healthcare. Because of interested and caring individuals and organizations, our MS Center continues to flourish, as do those patients who have discovered Holy Name's very special brand of care.

Our vision of a one-stop MS resource has been realized with leading-edge diagnosis and personalized treatment services, including the region's only MS-dedicated infusion center; innovative therapies in the pipeline, thanks to clinical trials in which Holy Name participates; and a robust program of psychosocial and other supportive care offerings.

Your generosity helps the MS Center to continue delivering these outstanding programs and services to our patient population of more than 2,000 individuals. By improving patients' quality of life, they can work their jobs, enjoy their families and pursue their dreams -- bringing them closer to a future without MS.

In the words of one of our MS patients:

"I have traveled 3 hours in each direction to be under the care of Doctor Picone at Holy Name for 30 years. I will never be able to thank her and the staff enough for all they have done for me."

View the 2025 MS Awards Dinner photo album