By day, this dynamic duo serves as researchers at Marshall’s Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, investigating the microscopic effects of drugs, chemicals and other substances on the human body. But when the workday ends, a different pair emerges — one eager to trade the laboratory for the outdoors and explore the world of flora and fauna.
Summer 2026
Faculty Feature
Marshall researchers enjoy discovery both in the lab and outside it
For Dr. Gary Rankin and Dr. Monica Valentovic, the curiosity that drives their research doesn’t clock out at 5 p.m. — it just trades the lab for the field and the garden.
By Leah Payne
Dr. Gary Rankin and Dr. Monica Valentovic arrived at Marshall about six years apart. Rankin, now a professor of pharmacology and toxicology and vice dean for research, was recruited to Marshall’s newly formed medical school in the late 1970s to help guide its inaugural program. Valentovic, also a professor in toxicology and pharmacology, arrived a few years later after completing her post-doctoral years at the University of Kentucky. The two colleagues, who’d met briefly at a conference a few years before, married in 1992.
Beyond the Lab
For Rankin and Valentovic, a passion for science doesn’t end at 5 p.m. The love of science extends to the hobbies they pursue together.
Natives of Arkansas and Ohio respectively, Rankin is an avid birdwatcher and Valentovic, a rosarian, or grower of roses. Like many couples, however, each has developed a strong appreciation for the other’s interest.
“Being a scientist, I like to keep records and there’s kind of a competitive side to it, so I want to see all the birds I can possibly see,” Rankin said.
“Both of us love astronomy. So, we look for meteor showers, comets, the international space station and that sort of thing. I’m very interested in fossils. I’ve always collected fossils.”
Valentovic’s main hobby is growing roses, an activity that has interested her since childhood and something she was eager to continue cultivating when she moved to Huntington. As Rankin tells it, she visited his home and asked if she could plant a few rose bushes in his yard since she was living in a townhome at the time.
“My grandfather always had roses, and I had a few in my yard. Next thing I know, boxes started showing up with 25 bushes from Jackson and Perkins,” Rankin chuckles. “And I had to plant 25 rose bushes…”
“Actually, I helped plant those 25 rose bushes,” Valentovic dryly interjects.
Noting that her parents were rosarians also, the longtime scientist says the hobby took root early in her life.
“My father was in the Navy, and my mother worked sewing uniforms during the war. Their favorite rose is the Peace rose, a nod to their military connections.”
Over the years, those 25 inaugural plants have blossomed into 300 specimens in the couple’s garden. There is no professional gardener for this team, who lovingly cares for every plant themselves. Of the 300, 150 are small miniature roses and the other half are anything from hybrid tea, grandiflora, floribunda, old garden roses, shrubs and climbers. The two even have a rose named after them. Rankin’s is an orange miniature rose and Valentovic’s is an orange hybrid tea rose.
Known as academic experts in the fields of pharmacology and toxicology, the two have traveled the world in their professional capacities, but their hobbies have also taken them on the road where they have met others who share the same passions.
Valentovic stresses that a shared hobby has a unique way of bringing people together. She said the hobby creates connections that go beyond traditional social and professional boundaries, fostering friendships and a sense of community among people who might otherwise never cross paths.
“We have met people who would have not normally come across our paths,” she said. “There are farmers and factory workers and even one of our colleagues who is a cardiothoracic surgeon.”
We have met people who would have not normally come across our paths… farmers and factory workers and even one of our colleagues who is a cardiothoracic surgeon.Dr. Monica Valentovic
Valentovic says the camaraderie and relationships developed from the hobby are among its greatest rewards. Both agree, however, that birding and gardening also provide a welcome escape from workplace stress and time to relax in nature outside the lab.
Still, as Rankin noted, they always come back to science. Take for example, one of their first rose shows when Valentovic was disappointed that they didn’t win a trophy.
“I said, ‘Look, we are scientists. We can figure this out. There’s just a formula for how you grow these roses,’” he told her. “And so, we went on and on. It took us five shows that year, but we won our novice trophy and then we were off. And we’ve won almost 800 trophies since then.”
The reverse is true as well with Rankin’s primary hobby. Valentovic often serves as a spotter for her husband while he’s birding. In fact, he credits her with encouraging him to develop the hobby.
“I really got started the year we got married,” he said. “Monica told me, ‘You should do it. You really like it.’”
He took her advice, taking his enthusiasm for birding not only throughout the country but the world to see what species he can find. That includes countries such as Mexico, Panama, Costa Rico and Ecuador on this side of the globe, and as far as England, Germany and China. Here in West Virginia, he’s spotted 319 different species of birds, and in North America, 836.
He also has been active in numerous bird and wildlife organizations and authored several articles on the topic. And he and Valentovic both maintain dozens of Eastern Bluebird boxes throughout Wayne County, West Virginia, to help support the species.
Like birds of a feather, whether they are birding or showcasing their beautiful blooms, one thing is for sure — this couple is doing it together.
