Boettcher Scholar Dante Disharoon and Boettcher Investigator Dr. Keith Neeves have worked together since 2014. Dr. Neeves, a professor in the Departments of Bioengineering and Pediatrics at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus has served as an advisor and mentor to Disharoon, who recently received his PhD from the Colorado School of Mines.
Given their long history (for a student and professor) we thought it would be fun to find out how well they know each other, so we posed a series of rapid-fire questions.
Here are their responses:
Who would play Dr. Neeves in a movie?
Disharoon: Jake Gyllenhaal
Who would play Dante in a movie:
Dr. Neeves: Keanu Reeves:
What are three words you would use to describe the other person:
Dr. Neeves: Kind, intelligent and hard working
Disharoon: Erudite, sarcastic and diligent
What do you most admire about the other person?
Disharoon: “I most admire that while he is doing very intense work he always keeps a sense of humor about it, and he never gets caught up in frustration that can develop.”
Dr. Neeves: “I am most impressed with Dante’s work ethic. I would put him at top of list of people I have had work for me. When someone is working this hard, you respect it, you just have a lot of reverence for it.”
What do you think the other person would cite as their greatest accomplishment?
Disharoon – “I think Dr. Neeves would say that his greatest accomplishment is graduating so many trainees who have gone to be very successful.”
Dr. Neeves –“ I’m sure his greatest accomplishment is in the future, but even the growth I’ve seen in the last five or six years has been remarkable.”
What do you think the other person would pick if they could choose one superpower?
Dr. Neeves: “The ability to manipulate or slow down time.”
Disharoon – “I think Dr. Neeves would want the lack of need to sleep. Basically, endless energy.”
What is one key lesson you learned from the other person:
Disharoon: “Well, I think Dr. Neeves prides himself on being able to ask the right questions and in research, learning how to ask good questions is better than learning how to provide good answers. So, I think I always do my best to think about what kinds of questions Dr. Neeves would ask about a certain data set. And hopefully I’ve gotten a little bit better at it over the last few years.”
Dr. Neeves: “That it really is very much a partnership. When we meet every week and we sort of discuss what’s going on, I feel like everyone is pitching in and challenging each other and you know, the product gets better that way.”
