Amid federal funding cuts to Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Executive Director John Kirwan made a pitch for the organization's research into diabetes and childhood obesity Wednesday at a Rotary Club of Baton Rouge luncheon.

“These challenges make your support, Rotary folks, essential. You’re trusted voices in the community, and that trust matters when we share what science truly says,” he said. “And I believe trust in science starts in communities like ours, in institutions like Pennington.”

Kirwan spoke to more than a hundred people at the weekly luncheon, highlighting programs at the research center, including a center studying metabolic disease and a U.S. Department of Defense partnership to help optimize performance and health for service members.

But he also acknowledged th

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