Jackson Lab to get $1M gift from health pioneer

The Jackson Laboratory said it will get a planned $1 million gift from Dennis J. Paustenbach, a pioneer in the health and environmental risk assessment industry, to support its cancer and immunology research.

The gift will establish an endowment called the Paustenbach Family Cancer and Immunology Research Fund.

“I concluded JAX was the best equipped to take its eight decades of work with mice to make dramatic improvements in the way we treat or cure cancers,” Paustenbach said in a statement. “JAX can use the mouse to give us insights into diseases that other places can’t do. What is really special about JAX is its ability to use mouse genetics and immunology to get an upper hand on cancer.”

David Roux, chairman of the Laboratory’s Board of Trustees, said Paustenbach’s gift underscores the importance of planned giving, a type of charitable contribution that lets donors make a future gift to an organization through a range of financial vehicles.

Paustenbach is a board-certified toxicologist and industrial hygienist with nearly 30 years of experience in industrial and environmental toxicology, occupational health and human risk assessment. He is the founder of ChemRisk, a human and ecological risk assessment firm that in 2012 merged with Cardno to form Cardno ChemRisk, a division of Australia-based Cardno ENTRIX. The division headquartered in San Francisco.

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