Who says there's no such thing as a free lunch?
First-year students at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School (NJMS) were invited to participate in a one-hour tour of the Newark Museum - with a free lunch at the Museum Cafe. Invitations to attend on one of four Wednesdays in May and June were posted via e-mail and flyer - a rare opportunity for students to go beyond the confines of the University campus and their text books. Thomas Walters, MD, a professor of pediatrics at the medical school and a docent of the museum, was on hand to present a short history of the building and its permanent collection. He also introduced them to some of the art treasures, including works by George Inness, Georgia O'Keeffe, Jacob Lawrence, Andy Warhol and Robert Colescott, as well as relics in the Asian galleries. The program was sponsored by Ruy Lourenço, MD, dean of NJMS, and was the brainchild of Barbara Schiller, recently retired from the University's News Service and still UMDNJ's representative on the Newark Museum's Council. Most of the students said they had never been to the museum before and would like to return on their own to spend more time "studying" some of its gems.
