English Version

A nonprofit organization founded in 1951 as the Rapkine French Scientist Fund Inc., the Pasteur Foundation works to raise funds to support the Institut Pasteur in Paris whose mission is the pursuit of excellence in the domain of biomedical research for the worldwide amelioration of public health. This pursuit of excellence is applied to each of the Institut Pasteur's three principal vocations: biological research (focused historically on infectious diseases but extending today to include allergies, genetic diseases and cancer), the development of public health applications arising from this research, and teaching and training programs.
Faithful to the spirit that drove Louis Pasteur, the mission of the Pasteur Foundation is based on the principle that because infectious diseases do not recognize geopolitical boundaries, they pose a serious threat to global public health. Furthermore, the control of their proliferation, and their prevention through research, prophylaxis and epidemiological surveillance and above all through a thorough basic scientific understanding are achievable goals. The Pasteur Foundation seeks to help the Institut Pasteur in its fight by funding specific projects, promoting scientific exchanges with the American researchers and by raising funds for the advancement of science.

The year 2000 marked the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Pasteur Foundation in New York. Its precursor, the Rapkine French Scientist Fund, was incorporated in 1951 in memory of the work of a remarkable Pasteur scientist and humanist, Louis Rapkine (1904-1948). In August 1940, after France fell to the Nazis, Rapkine devised a rescue plan in collaboration with the Rockefeller Foundation in New York to save an elite corps of French scientists from wartime persecution. Thanks to his efforts, some 30 scientists and their families successfully emigrated. Louis Rapkine was an exceptional and noble figure to whom the field of biochemistry owes a great deal.
Following the war, while France was rebuilding, French researchers found themselves in need of materials. In 1951, three years after Rapkine's death and as a tribute to him, the Rapkine Fund was established in New York for the purpose of purchasing scientific materials for use in France. The Institut Pasteur was one of the fund's primary beneficiaries. A charitable organization in New York overseen by Bethsabée de Rothschild, the Rapkine Fund played an important role in establishing an enduring tradition of American philanthropic giving to the Institut Pasteur.

Contact
address: Pasteur Foundation, 420 Lexington Avenue, Suite 1654, New York, NY 10170
phone: 212 599 2050
fax: 212 599-2047
email: PasteurUS@aol.com
website: http://www.pasteurfoundation.org/

This society has not participated to our survey yet. Information are unverified.

Go back