Newswise — PHILADELPHIA (October 27, 2014) – The Monell Chemical Senses Center announces $1 million in leadership challenge gifts from Board members Richard L. Berkman, Esq., and Dwight Riskey, PhD. The gifts, made in honor of Monell Director Emeritus Gary Beauchamp, PhD, will support new faculty recruitment in the areas of nutrition, taste, and olfaction.
“We are very grateful for these important gift commitments from Rick and Dwight, two of our longstanding and dedicated leaders,” said Monell President and Director Robert F. Margolskee, MD, PhD. “As we prepare to celebrate Monell’s 50th anniversary in 2018, our strongest priority is to attract the next wave of young scientists, who will bring emerging scientific technologies and innovative expertise to the Center. Using gifts such as those we received today, we will recruit the best and the brightest to take the Center forward, both in basic discovery and in identifying critical translational bridges to improve human health.”
A pioneering taste scientist with numerous breakthrough discoveries, Margolskee also is an entrepreneur who founded, led and raised capital for a taste biotech company. He assumed the Directorship at Monell on October 1 and made the gift announcement shortly after a Board vote on October 27 formally confirmed his position as the Center’s President.
Riskey, who serves as Board chair, commented, “With these gifts we simultaneously honor Gary Beauchamp’s strong leadership over the past 24 years and support Bob Margolskee’s vision for recruiting Monell’s next generation of scientists. Building on the strong foundation already in place, Monell will continue to extend our scientific and medical impact.” A former Monell postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Riskey was Senior Vice President at PepsiCo, retiring in 2007 after 25 years of service. He currently is principal of Riskey Business Solutions LLC, a strategic marketing consulting firm.
“Translating results from the study of taste and smell is a means to improve human health and well-being. At Monell, scientists work to discover ways to reduce our salt intake, detect diseases such as ovarian cancer in early treatable stages, improve outcomes for asthmatics, and much more. I encourage anyone with an interest in human health to come to know Monell, so that they too will choose to support this transformative work,” said Board member Richard Berkman, Of Counsel at Dechert LLC.
The Monell Chemical Senses Center is an independent nonprofit basic research institute based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For over 46 years, Monell has advanced scientific understanding of the mechanisms and functions of taste, smell and nutrition to benefit human health and well-being. Using an interdisciplinary approach, scientists collaborate in the programmatic areas of sensation and perception; neuroscience and molecular biology; environmental and occupational health; nutrition and appetite; health and well-being; development, aging and regeneration; and chemical ecology and communication. For more information about Monell, visit www.monell.org.
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