Dear colleague: 

The University is providing free COVID-19 testing to CU Anschutz employees, students, and household members through March 31. There are testing sites for those with symptoms of COVID-19, for those who may have been exposed, and for those who do not have symptoms. There are on-campus and off-campus sites available for testing. To schedule a test, go to the COVID-19 Testing website.

An article co-written by Matthew K. Wynia, MD, MPH, professor of medicine and director of the Center for Bioethics and Humanities, is the No. 1 most-read National Academy of Medicine (NAM) paper of 2020. The paper, “Duty to Plan: Health Care, Crisis Standards of Care, and Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2,” dated March 5, 2020, discussed the crisis standards of care principles for scarce resource allocation during an epidemic. The article received the most mainstream media attention of any article released by the NAM, with more than 100 news outlets referring to it. On Twitter, medical professionals and many others added their gratitude to Matt and his co-authors for their prescient and essential guidance.

Condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of Linda Kassebaum Johnson, DVM, MPH, professor of pathology, who died December 6 from the effects of progressive supranuclear palsy. Linda joined the Anschutz Medical Campus in 2015 to develop the comparative medicine and pathology group. She retired when her disease progressed. Linda’s career spanned the globe. She served in the Peace Corps as a veterinarian in Togo, and in positions at James Cook University in Queensland, Australia; the Laboratory of Comparative Pathology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering; Yale University College of Medicine; the Veterinary Laboratories Agency of the United Kingdom; and the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, D.C. Condolences can be sent to lkasjohnson@gmail.com.

In past years, the medical student chapter of the Gold Humanism Honor Society has gone caroling during the holidays at Children’s Hospital Colorado. This year, the students spread cheer in a video that was edited and produced by Josten Overall. In addition to Josten, medical students Tosin Adebiyi, Kitty Branche, Noelle Carrillo, Katherine Ketcham, and Delia Shash perform in the video. While 2020 was an unending test of our stamina, the persistence of hope and compassion prevailed and will fortify us in the new year. For a dose of good cheer before heading back to our critical work, you can watch the video. Thanks to the students for their performances and to the team at Seacrest Studios at Children’s Hospital who helped share it with hospitalized children.

Have a good week,

John J. Reilly, Jr., MD
Richard D. Krugman Endowed Chair
Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs and
Dean, School of Medicine