L’amour was in the air

Courtney Burrows, PhD’15, MBA’17, and Michael “Mike” P. Burrows, PhD’15

LIVE IN | Chicago

MARRIED SINCE | 2015

Recruitment Weekend for the win: While deciding on a graduate school, Courtney and Mike were impressed with UChicago’s top-notch PhD programs (human genetics for her, immunology for him), but both said that Recruitment Weekend sealed the deal. “It was phenomenally fun,” Mike recalled. “We met so many fun people and we all hung out and got to know each other.” Even though not all cohorts overlap, Courtney’s molecular biosciences and Mike’s biomedicine did, allowing them to have friends in the same circles.

Sparks at the zoo: They spoke for the first time at Lincoln Park Zoo during an Orientation Week event. Mike was using crutches because of a torn ACL. When Courtney asked him about his injury, she shared that she’d also torn her ACL just a few years prior. “We bonded over knee damage,” Mike joked. They also discovered another coincidence: Mike had just moved to Chicago after working five miles from Courtney’s childhood home in Florida.

Matchmaker, matchmaker: Unbeknownst to them, their mutual friend

Colles Price, SM’13, PhD’15, in the cancer biology program, was always inviting them to his gettogethers in hopes that they’d become a couple. He saw that they had a lot in common, including a love of travel. “Colles takes a lot of credit for us getting together,” Mike said.

L’amour: Their first date was dinner at La Petite Folie in Hyde Park. From that point on, “French” became a theme in their lives. They got engaged and married in Paris, drove across France for their honeymoon and incorporate a French theme into their anniversary each year. Neither is French, although Mike is from the United Kingdom. The proposal: Mike planned to dine at a certain restaurant in Paris and then propose during a walk afterward. But when the couple arrived in France, they both had terrible jet lag, Courtney was sick and the weather was stormy.

“I thought, ‘Aw, my plans are ruined.’ So, because I was nervous, I decided to propose jet-lagged, tired and sick in our hotel room. Then the rest of the trip would be a celebration and I wouldn’t have to worry about it,” he said. They were so excited to tell their parents, they forgot about the time change and woke them up in the middle of the night to share the news.

Still connected to UChicago: The Burrowses are both involved with the University of Chicago’s myCHOICE program, designed to broaden science trainees’ exposure to and preparation for a diverse range of careers. Through this program, they participate in career panels and one-on-one mentoring. Additionally, Courtney is a member of the UChicago MBSAA Alumni Council, and Mike ran an externship offered through myCHOICE to give trainees exposure to finance industry jobs.

Where they work now: Courtney is a marketer for Skyrizi, a biologic therapy for patients with psoriasis. Mike is Vice President of Life Sciences at Aspire Capital.

Michael J. Robertson, MD’84, and Christopher A. Slapak, MD’84

MARRIED SINCE | 2014, when same-sex marriage was becoming legal across the U.S.