Henderbagels!: Presenting Dr. Mark Henderson

I am very proud to announce that my husband Mark received his Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Medicine on Thursday, 8/12. He worked very hard on his thesis project over the last five years under the mentorship of Dr. Pamela Zeitlin. He gave a fantastic presentation entitled "UCH-L1 and cystic fibrosis: a novel role for the deubiquitinating enzyme in CFTR biogenesis." A month and a half ago I was the one behind the podium, so it was nice to be in the audience this time! Mark did an excellent job and I am soooo proud of his accomplishment and wish him a successful career in science. While he finishes off some experiments in Pam's lab, he'll be looking for a postdoctoral research position at Hopkins.

Dr. Mark!

To celebrate the occasion, the fam came down from NY & NJ: Ma & Pa Henderbagel, Kelly & our baby niece Aubree, Lauren & Jeff, and Aunt Loretta (Mark's godmother) & Uncle Frank. It was fantastic having the whole crew here. I honestly don't know how Mark was still standing at the end of the day, but he insisted on playing in his ice hockey game that was scheduled for the night of his thesis seminar. Boys will be boys! The Blue Liners put another "W" in the books and Mark scored a goal and an assist. Guess he didn't want to let down all his fans :)

The Henderson clan

The following evening we had a formal celebratory dinner at Woodberry Kitchen, one of our faves, followed by a night out in Canton Square with Lauren & Jeff. We closed down Coburn's bar, just like we used to 6 years ago!! My how the time flew...

Jeff & Lauren

The rest of the weekend, Frank & Loretta did some sightseeing around town as it was their first time visiting. The rest of us wore down the treads of our shoes trekking through the inner harbor and up Federal Hill. I never fully appreciated how challenging it is to travel with a baby (go Kelly!)... Aubree was a good sport as we wheeled her over curbs, off-roaded, and carried her up stairs in her stroller like she was the queen!