Andrew Czernik:  

Hey there, PalParkJHS, '63; CPHS, '66 During high school I worked on weekends and during three summers at the HoJo's at the end of the NJ Turnpike on Rt. 46 in Ridgefield Pk. What a wild and eclectic crowd, led of course by the 'Hostess' Mrs. Carol Bruno and Head Chief Hessikah Schuler. Bus/wait staff included Denis Donovan, John Licata, myself, Donna Decker, Gail Holtz, Gail Theis, "Irish" Arlene the counter server, Dottie, short-order cooks Jack and Bill Strom. Peter Block filled the Tony Soprano slot. The night manager, "Mr Kal..." was jailed for embezzlement. What a crew!! I did everything from washing dishes, unloading trucks, busing and waiting tables, flipping burgers and frying clams, to making beautiful banana splits, yes, with a cherry on top. Rutgers College, New Brunswick, NJ, BA '70: Biochem Drug-addled hippie existence, Theta Chi fraternity; House Mgr. '69-'70 Missed Woodstock working at HoJo's Survived draft with lottery #263 NY Medical College, MS,'77; PhD,Biochemistry '83 From '70-'83, I worked for CIBA-Geigy Corp. (pharmaceuticals) while simultaneous attending graduate school (10 long years!) After graduation, I left industry for the academic life in NYC at Rockefeller University to do research on cellular communication in the brain. Since I saw most everyone last at the CPHS 25th anniversary party I continued my neurochemical research at The Rockefeller University in NYC. Biggest highlight was celebrating the award to my boss of the Nobel Prize in 2000 for his (our!) work on signal transduction in the brain. I was very proud to have mentored 2 PhD and one MD/PhD student while there. My research interests evolved after that and in 2002 (after suffering thru the 9/11 episode by living on Xanax, Klonopin and Paxil like the rest of the inhabitants of Manhattan) I left Rockefeller and NYC for Denver, CO, where an old friend and colleague of mine and I started a small biotech company named PhosphoSolutions. I am Chief Science Officer and our company is involved in the design and production of a select group of reagents called phospho-antibodies. I am currently single (2X divorced, one son) and reside in Aurora, CO, an eastern suburb of Denver, and enjoy the wonderful mountain views every day. As for recreation, I made yearly backpacking trips to the White Mts. in NH or the Adirondacks in NY, with some trips to more exotic locations like Yellowstone Pk in CA, Maui and the big island of Hawaii, and both desert and mountain parts of Algeria. I fulfilled a 20-year hiker's dream in 1994 when I spent 4 weeks trekking in Nepal. Made it to just under 16,000 ft. I got caught up in the Jim Fixx-induced running craze in the late '70s. I was a 25 mile/week runner from '78-'83, with a marathon best time of 3:20. I would usually do a 5-10K run at lunch time, and this would give me regular time to think about my thesis experiments. Less convenient places to run and heavy time pressure at the lab curtailed my weekly miles after I moved to Rockefeller U. A second knee operation in '90 finished off my running days for good. I still dream about running (and cycling) the rolling, back hills around the Tarrytown Lakes and the old Rockefeller estate at Pocantico, especially in the fall when the foliage change occurs. Anyone remember that quaint little chapel right off Rt. 448 with the Matisse and Chagall stained glass windows? Oh, and to be so thin again, too! I have been a serious, passionate NY Yankee fan since the days of Whitey, Yogi and The Mick. I managed to go to a few games a year, more when I lived in Westchester County and even more during my years in Manhattan. It was so easy to take the #4 train from the Upper East Side to the Stadium. I was fortunate to be at many playoff games during the unbelievable Jeter-Mariano-Torre teams of 1995-2001. The thrill of being in the stands during the playoffs is incomparable; you can feel the entire structure shake and tremble when 55,000 are cheering in unison. I'll never forget how it felt when the entire crowd cheered "Sayonara" ...Expand for more