An invitation-only health conference capped at 200 guests is set to take over Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach this December, built around cancer research, wellness and a gala capping off the gathering. The event, organized by the MEHA Institute, pairs clinical programming with a fundraising push for a cancer center in San Diego.
According to the MEHA Institute's own website, the convening is scheduled for Dec. 14 through 17, 2026, with access limited to up to 200 guests by invitation. A separate account from Florida Weekly describes the schedule somewhat differently, listing the conference dates as Dec. 14-15 and 17, 2026, at the same West Palm Beach venue — a discrepancy that has not been resolved between the two sources.
The MEHA Institute describes the four-day program as a mix of a clinical programme, a Ministerial Impact Series, golf and a documentary premiere, closing out with the Starry Night Gala. The institute names Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego as a founding beneficiary of its proceeds and partnerships.
A Cross-Country Tie to San Diego Cancer Research
Moores Cancer Center describes itself as the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in its region. The center also conducts cancer research.
The center's finances got a boost: UC San Diego Today reported that Moores Cancer Center received a five-year, $25 million Cancer Center Support Grant from the National Cancer Institute, a grant the university says covers about 25% of the center's operating costs.
A Pattern of Similar Fundraisers in California
The West Palm Beach plans echo a string of earlier fundraisers held under the Starry Starry Night banner in California, organized by Daphne Barak and her husband Erbil “Bill” Gunasti, according to Florida Weekly's reporting. Game Changer Event Series documents a Starry Starry Night Gala Dinner Premiere held June 3, 2024, in Rancho Mirage, followed by a second annual fundraiser on March 2, 2025, and another fundraiser on Feb. 1, 2026, both at Chapperel Country Club in Palm Desert.
One of those Palm Desert galas raised more than $100,000, with the proceeds going to the Moore Cancer Center at UC San Diego, according to KESQ. Barak and Gunasti organized that event too, Palm Springs Life reported, and the outlet put attendance at 160 guests, including Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
What Florida Weekly's Account Adds
Florida Weekly's original story, which carried the headline Healing Horizons, frames the West Palm Beach event as the work of Barak and Gunasti, who the outlet reports founded the MEHA Institute — a name standing for Make Everyone Healthy Again. That reporting states Barak is a breast cancer survivor and that both she and Gunasti underwent significant surgeries in 2024, experiences the outlet says inspired them to pursue cancer awareness, medical research and efforts to help people live healthier, longer lives.
The conference is billed in that account as exploring breakthroughs in medicine, wellness, longevity and health care policy, with medical experts expected to participate representing UCLA, UC San Diego Health, the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, City of Hope and Mount Sinai. Florida Weekly also reports the Starry Starry Night gala portion of the program will feature a performance by Macchio and an appearance by actress Cheryl Hines.
Guest access to the conference is limited to 200 high-profile and select attendees personally known to Barak and Gunasti, the outlet reports, and Barak is quoted as saying the event is intended to promote breast cancer awareness, benefit research at UC San Diego's Moores Cancer Center and share fact-based health information. Florida Weekly notes additional information on the gathering is available at www.gamechangerevents.org.
Local Health Context in Florida
Breast cancer remains the most common cancer among women in Florida, according to a statement from the Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach, which also notes that mortality rates have decreased by more than 5% over the prior decade, a trend the department partly attributes to improved screening, access and treatment.
