Pennington Biomedical Research Center received a $1 million gift to help improve its postdoctoral research on Tuesday.
The center’s former executive director, Dr. Claude Bouchard, and his wife, Monique Chagnon, made the donation, which will go toward creating the Claude Bouchard-Monique Chagnon Fund to support postdoctoral fellows in basic research, population science and clinical and public health.
Postdoctoral research has been pivotal in Bouchard’s career. He has trained about 40 postdoctoral researchers throughout his career in researching obesity genetics, type 2 diabetes and hypertension.
“I became very conscious that postdocs are critical to the success of the scientific research enterprise,” Dr. Bouchard said. “One could argue that they are the actual driver of research in a laboratory. They are not passive recipients; they challenge their mentors and everyone becomes wiser in the process.”
He served as Pennington Biomedical’s executive director from 1999 to 2010. During his time there, the center developed a new Division of Education to support training postdoctoral fellows and creating a supportive environment for them.
His leadership helped lead Pennington Biomedical to being recognized as one of the top 10 postdoctoral programs in the nation. The LSU Board of Supervisors unanimously awarded Dr. Bouchard a Boyd Professorship, the most prestigious title that can be awarded to professors at LSU, in 2016.
“[Chagnon and I] prefer to give back to institutions and places where we lived and had great professional life experiences,” Dr. Bouchard said.
Rebecca Schutte, President and CEO of Pennington Biomedical Research Foundation, said Dr. Brouchard’s legacy extended throughout the scientific community through the many scientists all over the world that learned under him and now do their own research.
“We are so grateful to Claude and Monique for this gift that will greatly amplify our ability to recruit the best and brightest postdocs in the world,” Schutte said.
“Through their generosity, they are making a historic addition to Pennington Biomedical’s commitment to create a welcoming place for postdocs to train.
Dr. Bouchard and Chagnon said they hope that their gift is only the first of many and that others who see how valuable postdoctoral fellows are will also contribute to the fund.
“We are not rich people but have been lucky and successful enough in our careers to make such an investment in the future of Pennington Biomedical,” Chagnon said.

Gallery • 1 Photos

Courtesy of Pennington Biomedical Research Center

bouchard and pennington ppl