Thank you for supporting
Signature Chefs Feeding Motherhood Cincinnati

The Signature Chefs Auction is an awards event and premier fundraiser that brings together the community to recognize culinary excellence and achievements for our top chefs in the Greater Cincinnati/ Northern Kentucky area. 
Our local chefs will compete to take home the 2018 Top Signature Chef Award. We invite you to come and taste our chefs creations while partaking in a dynamic and interactive cocktail party atmosphere. The event also includes a live auction along with a compelling appeal to support the mission of March of Dimes.
As we celebrate the 80th Anniversary of March of Dimes, we continue the fight for Healthy Moms. Strong Babies. 

Premature birth is the most serious infant health problem in the United States today. It affects more than half a million babies nationwide each year, with over 17,000 in Ohio alone. Babies born too soon are more likely to die or have lifelong disabilities. 

March of Dimes is committed to reversing this trend by funding research to find the causes of premature birth and providing comfort and information to families. 

With your March of Dimes Fund the Mission Gift at Signature Chefs, we can help to fund the research, education, and support needed to ensure more babies celebrate their first birthday.

Saving babies is what we do.  Its what we’ve always done.  And we want to do it together with you! Your support is critical to ensure that "every baby has a fighting chance!" 

March of Dimes story:

We are excited to recognize the Naser family as our Signature Chefs Auction Ambassador Family.  Their story like hundreds of others in the Greater Cincinnati/N. Kentucky region magnifies the important work that March of Dimes does to fight for the little ones who can't fight for themselves. To read more about Kaya's Story, click here.

Emily DeFranco, DO, MS is a productive clinician scientist conducting clinical research at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and the Center for Prevention of Preterm Birth at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.  Her primary research interest is in the area of preterm birth, focusing on both clinical trials for prematurity prevention and epidemiologic studies evaluating genetic and environmental influences to preterm delivery.  She is a patent holder from her sentinel work on progesterone for the prevention of spontaneous preterm birth. Her additional research endeavors include stillbirth, infant mortality, birth spacing, and racial disparities in perinatal outcomes.  She enjoys mentoring undergraduate students, medical students, and physicians in training in their acquisition of knowledge of hypothesis generation, study design, and application of clinical research.
                                                                                                                  
Dr. DeFranco graduated first in her class from the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences in 1998 as the Valedictorian with multiple academic honors. She completed residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2002 at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, KY, and remained on the faculty as Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology from 2002 to 2005. Following fellowship training in Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis in 2008, she joined the faculty at UC in the Department of OB/GYN. She received a Master’s Degree in Clinical and Translational research from the University of Cincinnati in 2010. She is the Director of the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine and is an Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. She is board certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Maternal Fetal Medicine, and is a Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Megan Fischer, CEO & Founder of Sweet Cheeks Diaper Bank

In 2014, Megan was pregnant with her second child and learned diapers are not covered by food stamps or WIC. She read stories about babies being left in the same diaper for days, disposable diapers being reused, and the infections children get from a lack of clean diapers. As a parent, she couldn’t imagine what it would feel like to not be able to provide for the basic needs of your babies, and tried to find a diaper bank in Cincinnati to volunteer with. When nothing turned up, an idea took shape, and Megan envisioned an organization that could work with social service agencies in Cincinnati to make sure every baby in the city she loves had clean diapers.

In the fall of 2015, Megan attended the Unpolished Conference for entrepreneurs at Crossroads Church in Oakley, and it proved to be the spark she needed to stop ignoring the call she felt to start a diaper bank. Just a few days after the conference, Megan had an amazing team in place ready to throw their support and talents into starting Sweet Cheeks Diaper Bank, and she’s been working hard to create a thriving program for families in need ever since.

In February of 2017, Megan made the move to Sweet Cheeks full time. When she’s not growing the organization, she spends time with her two kiddos, Archer and Elsa, and her husband, Brian.

The March of Dimes is proud to honor Megan Fischer as this year's Community Honoree for her dedication and committment to helping to make sure diapers are available for all babies in our city.