Chris Borges ’10, Emmanuel Trustee
Head of Non-Viral Gene Therapy and Genome Engineering at Sanofi
“Looking back, my time as a tutor at the ARC was my first real teaching experience. I became a peer tutor for Chem1102 during the spring semester of my first year. At the time, I knew nothing about teaching—the importance of patience, adapting to different learning styles, and mastering a subject well enough to teach it back to someone else. I picked up tips from other tutors, tutees, ARC staff, and my peers along the way and eventually tutored for a range of Biology and Chemistry classes.
I quickly realized that teaching was the most effective way to learn, and that lesson has stuck with me ever since. In my junior and senior years, I often found myself leading informal tutoring sessions for courses like Differential Equations, Molecular Biology, and Physical Chemistry—classes that didn’t always have official peer tutors since completing the course usually meant graduating. I would volunteer to help my classmates, knowing that by teaching the material, I was solidifying my own understanding.
That philosophy followed me into graduate school and continues to shape how I approach learning and leadership in my career today. I owe a debt of gratitude to the Emmanuel ARC for planting the seed early on—not just to master a subject, but to teach, to share knowledge, and ultimately, to embody what it means to truly be a doctor.”