E. Chester, Ridgway, MD

Silver & Gold Award

(2010) E. Chester "Chip" Ridgway, MD, MACP, ’68, was presented with the Silver & Gold Award, the highest honor the Medical Alumni Association bestows. It recognizes excellence in humanitarianism, citizenship and professionalism. Ridgway graduated magna cum laude from the School of Medicine and completed his internal medicine internship and residency at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, followed by clinical and research fellowships at Harvard Medical School. He joined the faculty of Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts

General Hospital in 1972 and served as Head of the MGH Thyroid Unit from 1980–1985. He was recruited back to the University of Colorado to lead the endocrinology, metabolism and diabetes division at the School of Medicine in 1985, and remained in that position until 2007. Ridgway continues to show his leadership as a senior associate dean in the school. Dean Richard Krugman credits him with being instrumental in overseeing the school’s move from Denver to the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora.

When people talk about Ridgway, some common themes emerge: support, mentoring, training the best in the field and being an internationally recognized expert in thyroid medicine. Virginia Sarapura recalls, "Dr. Ridgway has been my mentor since I started my fellowship 23 years ago. I cannot think of anyone who has been more supportive, encouraging, fair and generous, and who made such an incredible impact not only in mine, but in the careers of so many now prominent endocrinologists."