Inside Duke Medicine
Lab time is quality time for moms, daughters
posted May 10th, 2010
Dr. Nancy Andrews, dean of Duke medical school, works in the lab with daughter Camille Mathey-Andrews, left. Sally Kornbluth, a professor of pharmacology and cancer biology, and daughter Joey Lew are at right. Photo By Robert Willett
By Sarah Avery -- Staff Writer
The two women and their daughters stood at the counter, waiting exactly one minute for the mixer to finish.
Nancy Andrews was leading the lesson, and she explained that once the mixer turned off, they'd add another ingredient, then warm their concoction to room temperature for another 60 seconds before putting it back in the mixer.
It was a complicated recipe, and like so many mothers, Andrews relished the opportunity to pass it along to her daughter, Camille Mathey-Andrews.
Only this wasn't mom's seven-layer cake or impossibly fluffy biscuits they were whipping up. It was DNA.
Andrews, dean of the Duke University School of Medicine, has been spending Saturdays in her lab at Duke, teaching her daughter science lessons. For moms through the generations, such get-togethers are cherished moments to pass along a certain passion or skill - how to knit and purl, build a curio cabinet, raise heirloom roses, throw a spitball.
Read more.