Most people learn of the Monell Center when they (or a loved one) have suffered a sensory loss. The Monell Center, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the world’s only independent, non-profit scientific institute dedicated to interdisciplinary basic research on the senses of taste and smell.

I became personally connected to Monell in quite a different way, through the loss of a friend. This week would have been his birthday, so I am taking time to remember him in a number of ways, and this is one. Here is a little part of our story.