Actor Dennis Quaid to speak at Methodist Healthcare luncheon
Actor Dennis Quaid will serve as the keynote speaker at this year’s Methodist Healthcare’s Luncheon, slated for Friday, Nov. 22, at the Peabody Hotel. (Courtesy Methodist HealthCare)
Actor Dennis Quaid will serve as the keynote speaker of Methodist Healthcare’s annual luncheon on Friday, Nov. 22, at the Peabody Hotel.
It will be the 22nd year for the luncheon, which benefits the Methodist Healthcare Foundation, the philanthropic extension of the Memphis-based health care system.
“The Methodist Healthcare Luncheon is our annual signature event that allows us to further invest in educational outreach and technological advancements, as well as care for our entire community, including our most vulnerable and underserved patients,” said Zach Pretzer, president of the Methodist Healthcare Foundation.
“We are grateful to Dennis for using his influence as a patient advocate and look forward to an impactful dialogue about the role of advocacy in health care.”
Quaid’s acting career spans more than 45 years and includes roles in “Breaking Away,” “The Right Stuff,” ”The Big Easy,” “The Day After Tomorrow,” “Frequency” and“The Parent Trap.” He also starred as musician Jerry Lee Lewis in the 1989 biopic “Great Balls of Fire,” shot on location in Memphis, and as Rev. Shaw Moore in Memphis-based director Craig Brewer’s 2011 remake of “Footloose.”
In addition to his acting career and work as a touring musician, Quaid is a patient safety advocate who has testified before Congress for drug accountability. In 2007, the actor’s newborn twins nearly died from an an accidental Heparin overdose at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Previous Methodist Healthcare Luncheon guest speakers include Taye Diggs, Jim Gaffigan, Barbara Bush, Octavia Spencer, Rob Lowe, Sally Field and Michael Douglas.
Tickets are on sale now on the Methodist Healthcare Foundation website.
Topics
Methodist Healthcare Foundation Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare Zach Pretzer Dennis QuaidAisling Mäki
Aisling Mäki covers health care, banking and finance, technology and professions. After launching her career in news two decades ago, she worked in public relations for almost a decade before returning to journalism in 2022.
As a health care reporter, she’s collaborated with The Carter Center, earned awards from the Associated Press and Society of Professional Journalists and won a 2024 Tennessee Press Association first-place prize for her series on discrepancies in Shelby County life expectancy by ZIP code.
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