Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will lead off the Women’s Board of Wolfson Children’s Hospital’s 2024-25 Florida Forum Speaker Series, the board announced Aug. 5.
Johnson is scheduled to speak in Jacksonville on Oct. 29, followed by physician, author and alternative medicine advocate Deepak Chopra on Jan. 15, 2025. Floridian journalist and novelist Carl Hiaasen will speak Feb. 12, 2025.
Johnson’s appearance in the series is set for two weeks after the anticipated release of his memoir, “Unleashed.” A new book from Chopra on the role of artificial intelligence, “Digital Dharma,” is set for release Sept. 17, according to a release on the speaker series, while a TV series based on Hiaasen’s book “Bad Monkey” is scheduled to debut Aug. 14 on Apple TV.
All three events begin at 7 p.m. at the Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts.
Attendees under 30 can purchase seating for $150. General seating is available for $250, with prices rising to $2,250 for silver-level access and $4,500 for gold-level access, which both include invitations to private receptions with the speakers after their lectures.
Tickets are available online here, by phone at 904-202-2886 and by email at [email protected].
The forum, presented by The Women’s Board, is a fundraiser to support Wolfson Children’s Hospital. The board is working to raise $1.5 million for two new Kids Kare Mobile Intensive Care units and other Wolfson programs.
The mobile ICU units are part of a fleet of helicopters and ground vehicles that transport nearly 3,000 infants and children a year to Wolfson for emergency treatment.
Landstar, Wells Fargo and Florida Blue partner to sponsor the series. This year’s co-chairs of the forum are former Jacksonville City Council member Randy DeFoor and Clockwork Marketing President Maxine McBride.
Since 1992, the Florida Forum has hosted speakers from around the world. The series has generated more than $10 million for Wolfson.