Dean's Weekly Message

March 2, 2026

Dear Colleague: 

Dr. Betz Named Associate Dean for Centers and Institutes
I am pleased to announce that Emmy Betz, MD, MPH, has been named Associate Dean for Centers and Institutes, a new leadership role on the Dean’s Office team. In this role, Dr. Betz will work to accelerate interdisciplinary collaboration and external impact through stakeholder engagement, data management, and a system for central coordination.

This new position will help coordinate efforts to support, align, and invest in our Centers and Institutes as integral parts of our campus. Dr. Betz will also be instrumental in re-evaluating Center support models, ensuring financial and strategic viability and growth in the years ahead. For those at Centers and Institutes, watch for upcoming opportunities to share your activities and achievements, as well as your ideas on how to elevate the importance of these valuable structures within our community. 

This is an important assignment for our school, and we were fortunate to have several impressive candidates who applied for the job. We have an expansive range of Centers and Institutes that should be optimally aligned to ensure efficient use of our resources.

Dr. Betz, Professor of Emergency Medicine, completed a fellowship with the 2024-2025 Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine program, where she chose a project looking into the ecosystem of Centers and Institutes on campus. To this new role, she brings more than 15 years of experience designing and implementing complex, cross-disciplinary research studies and initiatives, including creating the Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative and serving as Deputy Director of the Injury & Violence Prevention Center.

Dr. Betz will help us foster a culture of innovation and collaboration while maintaining the creative autonomy and strengths of our individual centers and institutes. Welcome, Dr. Betz! 

Congratulations, Dr. Cervantes!
Lilia Cervantes, MD, Professor of Medicine, has been named recipient of the Helen M. Ranney Award from the Association of American Physicians.
 
The Ranney Award is given annually to a new AAP inductee who embodies the spirit of Dr. Helen M. Ranney. Dr. Ranney was a pioneer in academic medicine who made groundbreaking advances in biomedical research, patient care, education, and mentorship; and broke barriers to help diversify leadership in academic medicine.

Dr. Cervantes is a national leader in improving access to care for patients who depend on Emergency Medicaid for kidney disease. Her published scholarship has shown how delayed care contributes to mortality and morbidity among patients, increases costs for payers, and causes distress for physicians and caregivers.
 
Along with the award, the AAP Council has invited Dr. Cervantes to deliver remarks about her groundbreaking studies at the AAP annual meeting on April 17. It’s a high-profile address that will follow a panel session including Scott Gottlieb, MD, former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration; Robert Califf, MD, also former Commissioner of the FDA; and Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, Director of the National Institutes of Health.

Each year, only 70 new members are elected to the AAP. Dr. Cervantes is one of four School of Medicine faculty members elected this year to the AAP. The other CU faculty members are Neill Epperson, MD, Professor and Chair of Psychiatry; Terry Fry, MD, Professor of Pediatrics and Executive Director of the Gates Institute; and Thomas Jansson, MD, PhD, Professor and Vice Chair of Research of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Recognizing Our Fadul Award Recipient
Last week, I had the honor of presenting the Steven Fadul Award to an outstanding member of the School of Medicine's technical research staff, Berenice Cabrera-Martinez, MSc.

Ms. Cabrera-Martinez serves as the operational and intellectual backbone of the research teams she supports, combining exceptional technical mastery with scientific independence and problem-solving ability. She’s an ideal recipient of the Fadul Award, which was established to honor Steven Fadul, who had a 30-year career in the labs of the School of Medicine.

The award was one of nine categories awarded during the annual CU Anschutz Research Awards, hosted by the office of Thomas Flaig, MD, Vice Chancellor for Research. I am incredibly proud of our School of Medicine faculty, staff, and trainees who were honored for their outstanding research contributions. Check out the full list at this post on my LinkedIn page.

UCHealth Safety Culture Survey
Eligible staff, faculty, and residents should have received the UCHealth Safety Culture Survey on Monday, February 23, via email. If you did not, you can access the survey through this link by entering your NPI. Tom Gronow, EdD, MHA, President and CEO of University of Colorado Hospital, and I encourage you to complete the confidential survey and speak up for safety, ensuring that our faculty and housestaff voices are heard. The survey should take only 5-10 minutes. Your responses will help improve our culture of safety at University of Colorado Hospital. The survey will remain open until Wednesday, March 11.

Well-being Survey Results Show Improvements
The School of Medicine can celebrate a culture that is getting more collegial, inclusive, and collaborative, based on faculty and resident survey results collected last October by the Office of Faculty Well-Being.

The team led by Lotte Dyrbye, MD, MHPE, Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Well-being and Chief Well-being Officer, has released survey results showing that, compared to 18 months ago, multiple dimensions of culture have improved when results are aggregated across departments.

Some notable results:

• Residents and fellows, physicians, and advanced practice professionals report meaningful gains in perceptions of collegiality and belonging.

• Residents and fellows indicate greater appreciation for their work.

• Advanced practice professionals report a significantly stronger sense of alignment between their personal values and organizational values associated with their primary site of practice.

While there is meaningful variability across departments, divisions, and sections, Dr. Dyrbye’s data shows that our colleagues are proud to work here and would recommend the School of Medicine as a place to work. Net Promoter Scores – a key measure of workplace satisfaction – are up for physicians, APPs, and trainees.

Thanks to you, our School of Medicine just keeps getting better and better!

Faculty Update
Melanie Cree, MD, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics, and Natalie Nokoff, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, have been named 2026 Exceptional Mentors by the American Medical Women’s Association. Both join a class of 23 outstanding physicians who inspire, guide, and support the professional growth of women in medicine.

Recent Publications
Andrés F. Henao- Martínez, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine, is a co-author of a research letter, “Dermatologic Infections After Migration Through Latin America,” published February 25 by JAMA Dermatology.

Steven G. Schauer, DO, former fellow with the Center for Combat and Battlefield (COMBAT) Research, is corresponding author of an original investigation, “Initial Calcium Derangements in Major Trauma and Outcomes,” published February 25 by JAMA Network Open. He is now at the U.S. Army Institute for Surgical Research.

Kathleen M. Adelgais, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, is corresponding author of an original research article, “The National Pediatric Prehospital Readiness Project: First Comprehensive Assessment of United States Emergency Medical Services Agencies,” published February 21 by Annals of Emergency Medicine. An article in the campus newsroom describes the study.

Katelyn G. Enzer, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, is corresponding author of an article, “Electrical impedance tomography reveals ventilation and perfusion heterogeneity in infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia,” published February 24 by Journal of Perinatology. Four colleagues from our campus are co-authors.

Michael Narkewicz, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, is a co-author of an original article, “The Impact of Elexacaftor-Tezacaftor-Ivacaftor on Biochemical Surrogates of Cystic Fibrosis Hepatobiliary Involvement: A Retrospective Cohort Study,” published February 18 by Pediatric Pulmonology.

Lauren S. Hughes, MD, MPH, MSc, MHCDS, State Policy Director of the Farley Health Policy Center, is co-editor of a book, Primary Care in a Public Health Emergency: Lessons from the Front Lines of the COVID‑19 Pandemic, published February 2026 by Springer.

Tattered Cover Talk
Danielle Heebner, PhD candidate in the Pharmacology and Molecular Medicine PhD Program, and Ana Fernandez- Mariño, PhD, MSc, Assistant Professor of Physiology and Biophysics, will present “Your body’s electricity: What Fainting Goats, Spicy Salsa, and Heartbeats Have in Common,” at the Tattered Cover Book Store, 2526 E. Colfax Ave., at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 25. The talk is free and open to the public, and is part of an ongoing series offered by the Office of Research Education. This video of Dr. Fernandez- Mariño gives an overview of her work.

Faculty Workshop: Addressing Unprofessional Behavior
Join William Bynum, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Family Medicine at Duke University School of Medicine and Co-Founder and Co-Director of The Shame Lab, on March 12 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. for “Shame-Competent Response to Unprofessional Behavior” presented at Children’s Hospital Colorado, Mt. Columbia Conference Room. This faculty development session will explore how shame operates in clinical and educational settings and offer practical, shame-competent strategies for addressing unprofessional behavior while supporting learner growth and psychological safety. Sponsored by the Academy of Medical Educators and the Office for Faculty Relations. Register now. 
 
Faculty Workshop: Transforming Conflict into Collaboration
Join Abbey Lara, MD, Assistant Dean for Faculty Relations and Associate Professor of Medicine, and Debbie Lammers, MBA, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Learning and Development, on March 18 from noon to 1 p.m. in Research Complex II, Krugman Conference Hall for a faculty development workshop focused on navigating conflict with confidence. Lunch will be provided. Register now.

Applications Open for Leadership Development Seminar
The Office for Faculty Development (OFD) is soliciting applications for our CU Anschutz School of Medicine nominees for the AAMC’s 2024-2025 Early Career Faculty Leadership Development Seminar on July 7-10 in Westminster. Registration and travel will be funded by the OFD. This three and a half-day seminar is designed to provide early career faculty with knowledge and skills to support their progress as leaders in academic medicine and science. Physicians and scientists who have held the rank of Instructor or Assistant Professor at the School of Medicine for 2-8 years and are actively seeking leadership positions are encouraged to apply. To apply, please submit CV, Chair or Division Head’s letter of support, and essay responses here by March 31. For questions, contact [email protected].

Sharing the News about Our NIH Rankings
Our school’s best showing in 20 years in the NIH rankings, as compiled by the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research, was big news last week, especially on social media. Check out these numbers: Our Instagram post received more than 20,000 views from more than 11,000 accounts, pulling in 474 likes and 68 shares. The School of Medicine’s LinkedIn posting collected more than 6,600 impressions on its post, drawing 134 reactions. And my LinkedIn post gathered some 1,650 impressions. Spread the word and share the good news!

Have a good week, 

John H. Sampson, MD, PhD, MBA
Richard D. Krugman Endowed Chair
Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs and
Dean, University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine