Dr. Werner's research focuses on using pregnancy as a stress test to identify life-long disease risk.

The Tupper Research Institute was established in 1984, as the first research institute at then-New England Medical Center, with significant philanthropic support from Earl S. Tupper.

Mr. Tupper believed in the ability of scientific investigation to improve lives. He understood the importance of investigative research because it was through such curiosity he was able to develop a method for purifying opaque black polyethylene slag into a substance that was flexible, tough, non-porous, non-greasy and translucent (which Tupper named Poly-T). Poly-T could be produced in a rainbow of colors for a completely new application that led to the invention of Tupperware, a housewares product that revolutionized the plastics industry and the world.