Bob Saget, Jim Gaffigan, Jeff Garlin, Jimmy Kimmel and special musical guest, John Mayer along with Top Chef Masters Bring Cool Comedy - Hot Cuisine to Los Angeles on June 5th

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May 19, 2015, 09:00 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, May, 19, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Bob Saget will once again host Cool Comedy – Hot Cuisine, the 34^th gala to benefit the Scleroderma Research Foundation (SRF) on Friday, June 5^th at the Four Seasons Beverly Wilshire. Saget, an SRF Board Member who lost his sister to scleroderma, will be joined in the fundraising effort for this often life-threatening disease by his comedy friends, Jim Gaffigan, Jeff Garlin, Jimmy Kimmel, and special musical guest John Mayer.

Bob Saget will host the 34th Cool Comedy - Hot Cuisine, a benefit for the Scleroderma Research Foundation on June 5th, 2015 in Los Angeles.

Presented by Actelion Pharmaceuticals, Cool Comedy – Hot Cuisine benefits the Scleroderma Research Foundation—America's first and leading nonprofit investor in medical research to find improved therapies and a cure for people living with scleroderma. Celebrity chefs/restaurateurs Susan Feniger (also an SRF Board Member) and Mary Sue Milliken, Food Network's Too Hot Tamales and both Bravo Top Chef Masters, will prepare the multi-course "Hot Cuisine" featuring dishes from their Border Grill Restaurants and Feniger's Mud Hen Tavern.

"The recent research progress has been remarkable," says Saget. "Thanks to advances that the SRF is making possible, patients are living longer, fuller lives. Our funded researchers have recently linked scleroderma's onset to cancer and, in a separate study, they have shown that the disease's harmful scarring can not only be stopped, but actually reversed in the lab."

The success of Cool Comedy – Hot Cuisine events held in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco has raised considerable awareness for scleroderma and enabled the SRF to fund innovative research bringing hope and helping to improve the quality of life for patients suffering from this debilitating disease. Since its founding in 1987, the Foundation has taken a collaborative approach, bringing together some of the brightest minds in science to unravel the mystery of this complex autoimmune disease.

The word scleroderma literally means "hard skin," but the disease is much more, often affecting the internal organs with lethal consequences. In some cases, the joints and muscles are affected, resulting in severe pain and limited mobility. Vascular damage due to scleroderma can result in loss of fingers, toes and entire limbs—but the most serious complications involve the lungs and kidneys.

To help turn a heavy subject lighter for the evening, Cool Comedy – Hot Cuisine will include a cocktail reception, a five-course dinner, some of the biggest names in comedy, and a musical performance by John Mayer. There will also be a live auction featuring unique packages such as the opportunity to attend the 2015 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show and After-Party. Other packages include a dinner prepared in your home by some of the country's top female chefs including; Traci Des Jardin, Susan Feniger, Suzanne Goin, Mary Sue Milliken, Nancy Silverton, Suzanne Tracht and Sherry Yard. For the sports enthusiasts a package will include seats for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Clippers, and the NFL Network will generously send four guests to a Thursday night game of the winner's choice, plus an in-studio experience for a Sunday morning broadcast at NFL Network in Los Angeles.

Tickets for Cool Comedy – Hot Cuisine start at $250 with premium seats for $500 and $1,500; tables of ten are available for $5,000; $10,000 and $25,000. All monies raised benefit the Scleroderma Research Foundation. Advance reservations are required. For more information, call (800) 441-CURE (2873) or visit www.sclerodermaRESEARCH.org.

More about Scleroderma and the Scleroderma Research Foundation:

The symptoms and severity of scleroderma vary from one person to another and the course of the disease is often unpredictable. Women are disproportionately affected with scleroderma (representing four out of five patients), usually striking in the prime of their lives, between the ages of 20 and 50; however, children and men of all ages and across all ethnic boundaries can also be affected.

Today, there is no way to prevent scleroderma and there is no cure. Treatments are available for some but not all of the most dangerous complications. The continued success of the Scleroderma Research Foundation is entirely dependent upon charitable gifts from individuals and corporations.

Dr. Fredrick Wigley, Director of the Johns Hopkins Scleroderma Center, which was launched with SRF funding and continues to grow with Foundation support, states in the volunteer-produced Project Scleroderma documentary: "The SRF has made an incredible difference, and I am absolutely convinced that, with the right support, there is nothing that can't be done."

The SRF was established in San Francisco in 1987 by scleroderma patient, the late Sharon Monsky, with a passionate commitment that lives on today: to use the power of collaborative medical research to advance a cure for scleroderma. Chaired by Luke Evnin, Ph.D., managing partner of MPM Capital, a dedicated investor in life sciences, the Foundation is enabling scientists from leading institutions across the nation and around the world to work together and develop an understanding of how the disease begins, how it progresses and what can be done to slow, halt or reverse the disease process.

For nearly 30 years, through the generosity of its donors and support of events likes Cool Comedy -Hot Cuisine, the Scleroderma Research Foundation has raised over $37 million dollars to fund ground-breaking research taking place at top universities such as, Johns Hopkins, Stanford, and UCSF. We are in business to go out of business. With your support, we can help the hundreds of thousands affected and fulfill the dream of our late founder, Sharon Monsky.

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SOURCE Scleroderma Research Foundation