Name: Robin Rhine

Gig: Clinical Manager

Years on the job: 14

On duty: Oversee operations of the Clinical Research Center in the Department of Nutrition Science. We take biometric measurements and draw blood from research study participants per the instructions of the study administrator.

You’d be surprised: There are times where the study may require participants to sit here for 10 hours with a catheter in their arm getting their blood drawn periodically. 

Cool science: For one of the first studies I worked on, I put fat into the participants’ mouths after starting a catheter in their arm to see if having fat in the mouth would trigger their triglycerides. So we now know there’s a fat taste bud.  

The strangest thing: Once, a fire alarm went off in the middle of a blood draw; we wheeled the participant out with a catheter in his arm and stayed with him until it was all clear. 

Service for hire: Few people on campus realize our services exist. We’re hoping to branch out so that any researcher on campus can use us. 

What I love: Being around all these graduate researchers watching the magnificent minds they develop and the wonderful people they become.