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Beverly Joyce Paigen
Born	Beverly Joyce Vander Molen 1938 Chicago, United States
Died	June 26, 2020(2020-06-26) (aged 81–82) Mount Desert, Maine
Alma mater	Wheaton College (BS) State University of New York, Buffalo (MS) State University of New York, Buffalo (PhD)
Awards	Sir Percival Potts award Toxics Coordinating Project, California Noteworthy Geneticist by Marquis Who's Who The Award for Scientific Achievement, The Jackson Laboratory
Scientific career
Institutions	Roswell Park Memorial Institute State University of New York, Buffalo Children's Hospital Oakland Clark University Jackson Laboratory

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Beverly Joyce Paigen (1938 – June 26, 2020) was an American biologist, geneticist, and environmental activist. Paigen's research work focused on heart disease, statistical genetics, computational biology, and the health effects of hazardous waste.

Early life and education

Bev was born in 1938 in Chicago. She received her B.S. in Zoology (Magna cum Laude) from Wheaton College (Illinois) in 1960 and her Ph.D. in Biology from the State University of New York, Buffalo in 1967.

Career

Bev was a prolific scientist, publishing 241 scientific papers over the course of her career and mentoring generations of young scientists, particularly women. She revolutionized the study of heart disease and pioneered the promotion of the mouse for cardiovascular research. She designed a special diet, the “Paigen Diet,” which was a pivotal contribution to modeling atherosclerosis in mice. Bev rejected that name, believing it “put women back in the kitchen.” She was also an early adopter of computational biology and statistical genetics. Over her career, Bev received numerous awards and accolades. She held postdoctoral and research scientist positions at Roswell Park Memorial Institute in Buffalo and Rachel Carson College at SUNY Buffalo from 1967 to 1982, after which she became research biochemist and then senior research biochemist at Children’s Hospital in Oakland, California. In 1989, she moved to Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine as professor. Bev is the recipient of awards from the National Institutes of Health, the Jackson Laboratory, and The Center for Health, Environment and Justice and the People’s Action Institute among others. Bev was a pioneer in the environmental movement, providing crucial scientific expertise on the health effects of hazardous waste on the community, especially children. Her scientific activism during the Love Canal controversy of the late 1970s advocated for citizens in the face of government inaction. In 1978, she began gathering scientific evidence exposing the adverse human health impacts of the Love Canal toxic waste dump in New York state. With great courage and at personal and professional sacrifice, Bev spoke out about the human suffering at Love Canal. As a result of her scientific work and moral convictions, the entire affected community received relocation benefits. Her work served as a catalyst for the EPA’s Superfund program, which cleans up the nation’s worst hazardous waste sites.