Rutgers • Robert Wood Johnson Medicine • Spring 2015 Page 9

Robert Wood Johnson

MEDICINE 7

says. "When I came back, it affected what we did in the lab
and how we solve problems."

In addition, his involvement in the course generated net-

working opportunities that have resulted in collaborative
projects with fellow instructor Dr. Brown, as well as with one
of the guest lecturers.

The course also had a tremendous impact on Melinda S.

Borrie, who joined Dr. Gartenberg as his teaching assistant
(TA) this year. Borrie, a graduate student in the medical
school's pharmacology program, has worked in Dr.
Gartenberg's lab for three years.

"Having the opportunity to learn from the guest lecturers,

each of whom could be a keynote speaker at the major con-
ferences in their field, was powerful. They were not just there
for the lecture, but were around the lab all day, eating with
the students, fielding questions," Borrie recalls. "It was an
incredible opportunity to learn from and network with indi-
viduals of their stature."

That networking included leaders in other fields of exper-

tise who were attending or presenting at other meetings and
national conferences on-site--Nobel laureates such as James
Watson, PhD, codiscoverer of the double-helix structure of

hen you bring people with
different areas of expertise and

put them in an incubator for three weeks,
a lot of great ideas go back and forth,
and things really begin to crystallize,"
says Dr. Gartenberg, (left) with his
teaching assistant, Melinda S. Borrie,
a graduate student in the medical school's

pharmacology program.

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