RIFM 58th Annual Meeting Notes: Highlighting Achievements & Honoring the Late Dr. Robert Bedoukian

The Research Institute for Fragrance Materials (RIFM) 58th Annual Meeting, held in mid-September 2024, drew fragrance safety stakeholders worldwide. The evening event focused on the Institute’s ground-breaking research and next-generation risk assessment (NGRA) programs and highlighted the storied careers of scientists whose legacies will drive future innovation for years to come.

As RIFM nears completion of its sixth decade of performing the science supporting the safe use of fragrances the Institute has a wealth of stories to share and many recent successes to celebrate. One of those stories is the enormous impact of the life and work of the late Robert H. Bedoukian, Ph.D., who passed away earlier this month surrounded by his loving family. 

Dr. Robert H. Bedoukian Excellence in Science Award

Robert Bedoukian led Bedoukian Research from 1986 to 2024, where he championed innovation and the science supporting the safe use of fragrance. During the event, RIFM Board Chair Robert Weinstein, Ph.D., passionately described Robet Bedoukian’s enduring legacy and announced that beginning next year, the RIFM Board of Directors Excellence in Science Award will be renamed the Dr. Robert H. Bedoukian Excellence in Science Award to honor the late Robert Bedoukian's tireless commitment to human health and environmental protection, and RIFM’s mission to build international trust in and acceptance of the safe use of fragrance materials.

Beginning 2025, the RIFM Board of Directors Excellence in Science Award will be renamed the Dr. Robert H. Bedoukian Excellence in Science Award to honor the late Robert Bedoukian.

RIFM president Anne Marie Api, Ph.D., Fellow ATS, reflected on the impact of Robert Bedoukian’s life’s work, “Over the last decade, Bob collaborated with RIFM on the investigation and development of numerous novel risk assessment techniques,” she explained. “His many contributions include critical work on the Dermal Sensitization Threshold (DST) and the dermal sensitization Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) for fragrance ingredients, as well as probabilistic modeling techniques for consumer exposure, and he was the lead author of several ground-breaking peer-reviewed research papers that continue to inform how we evaluate fragrance safety.

“The Dr. Robert H. Bedoukian Excellence in Science Award is a fitting tribute to Dr. Bedoukian’s tireless commitment to human health and environmental protection, and we hope the Award may play a role in ensuring his devotion to stewardship and the highest scientific standards will be remembered and honored by future generations,” Api concluded.

2024 Excellence in Science Award Recipient 

Robert James Safford, BSc, MPhil, was honored with the 2024 Excellence in Science Award.courtesy of RIFM

In addition to Robert Bedoukian’s legacy, the event honored Robert James Safford, BSc, MPhil, who devoted more than half a century to the science supporting the safe use of fragrance ingredients, with the 2024 Excellence in Science Award. After receiving the award, Safford gave an inspiring presentation on some of his collaborative work with RIFM that defined how scientists help to ensure the safe enjoyment of fragrance without risk for skin sensitization.

RIFM Milestones

The evening further highlighted RIFM’s longstanding leadership in the science supporting the safe use of fragrance as Api encouraged all to help the Institute celebrate a major milestone—just days before the event, RIFM had published peer-reviewed safety assessments covering over 2,000 fragrance-producing ingredients in the scientific literature. (The approximately 3,000 fragrance-producing ingredients in current use have all been evaluated; those not yet published await peer-review.)

“In addition to its 2,000^th assessment,” Api explained, “RIFM published several papers showing potential for cutting-edge animal-free new approach methods (NAMs) and one of its most important studies ever: the ‘low-exposure’ article, which provides scientific evidence for just how low our exposure to fragrance across all products truly is. The lead author, RIFM senior scientist Isabelle Lee, Ph.D., heads our Skin Sensitization research and safety assessment efforts.”

Api presented Lee with the 2024 RIFM President’s Award for Lee’s outstanding work on the low-exposure article and the significant communications efforts to help ensure its message reached the broader scientific community and fragrance safety stakeholders worldwide.

Roundtable Discussion

Lee was one of half a dozen RIFM staff and scientists who participated in two roundtable discussions during the event named, “What We Know About Exposure – and Why It Matters,” featuring Lee with principal scientist and photo safety lead Gretchen Ritacco, MS, and Marketing & Communications specialist Olive Chon, and “The Real-World Value of RIFM Data,” featuring director of Scientific Operations Danielle Botelho, Ph.D., director of Technical Information and Services Christen Sachse-Vasquez, and principal scientist and environmental lead Aurelia Lapczynski.

L to R: The “What We Know About Exposure – and Why It Matters” session featured Marketing & Communications specialist Olive Chon, principal scientist and photo safety lead Gretchen Ritacco, MS, senior scientist Isabelle Lee, Ph.D., and president Anne Marie Api, Ph.D.courtesy of RIFM

“The roundtable discussions allowed some of RIFM’s staff to provide direct insights into the critical and ground-breaking work they perform daily to deliver on RIFM’s mission to build international trust in and acceptance of the safe use of fragrance materials. It was also an opportunity for attendees to ask questions directly to our science and other staff members, which led to generative conversations that spilled over into the rest of the evening,” Api concluded.