Dean's Weekly Message

December 19, 2022

Dear colleague:

The fall commencement ceremony for graduates in the School of Medicine Physical Therapy and Anesthesiologist Assistant programs, as well as for students from the Graduate School and the College of Nursing, was held on Saturday, December 17, at the Colorado Convention Center. CU President Todd Saliman and several members of the CU Board of Regents joined campus leaders to celebrate our graduates and to wish them well as they begin their careers. Our graduates have shown remarkable resilience during their training. They will be outstanding care providers. Congratulations to all. 

The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus ranks No. 4 on a list of 200 academic institutions ranked by patent influence. The list was published earlier this month by the journal Nature. On its longer list of the leading 500 institutions, which includes private companies and research institutes, our campus ranked No. 15. The Nature Index tracks contributions to research articles in high-quality natural-science journals, and then queries a database of patents to determine the influence of institutions’ scholarly works on patents. The journal’s methodology is described in this guide to the Nature Index. 

Philippe Etienne, Ambassador of France to the United States, visited the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus on Monday, December 12. The ambassador toured the Anschutz Health and Wellness Center and received a presentation by Audrey Bergouignan, PhD, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes, who is leading a collaboration with French research partners to better understand physical activity transition and its health consequences. 

Congratulations to Vadym Zaberezhnyy, who last week was named this year’s recipient of the Steven Fadul Award, which annually recognizes an outstanding Professional Research Assistant or other member of the School of Medicine’s technical research staff. Vadym has been a valued member of our campus community for more than 17 years, working with the research group of James DeGregori, PhD, professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics. Vadym is manager of the 10-person lab, tending the mouse colonies, performing most of the mouse experiments in the lab, maintaining equipment, preparing reagents, and training new lab members. In addition to managing the lab, Vadym’s work includes authorship on more than 15 papers from the DeGregori lab, including papers published in Cancer Cell, Cancer Research, PNAS, Leukemia, PLoS Biology, and Journal of Clinical Investigation. 

In collaboration with UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital, we administered a survey to faculty credentialed in the UCHealth system in April 2022. Faculty can access the survey results, as well as the response strategy, at https://som.cuanschutz.edu/FacultyWellbeing or by going to https://som.cuanschutz.edu/ (where faculty access PRISM). To access the information, you will need to be logged into the system.  

Campus security officials said there have been 106 recorded reports of stolen vehicles and 39 attempted auto thefts from campus parking lots this year. More than 90 percent of the auto thefts have occurred in parking lots near Children’s Hospital Colorado and UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital. The university police department has announced steps to increase security. The CU Police Department encourages the SafeZone app as a tool to enhance safety on campus. In addition, the campus police offer security escorts to vehicles during hours of darkness. UCHealth security teams also offer free security escorts to staff and providers who are walking to or from their vehicles. 

Thomas Flaig, MD, vice chancellor for research for the CU Anschutz Medical Campus and professor of medicine, delivered the annual State of Research Address on December 6. Tom reported that the campus attracted $692 million in external research funding in fiscal year 2022 – a 34% increase since fiscal year 2018. 

For nearly two decades, Colorado Area Health Education Center (COAHEC) has offered free health screenings at the National Western Stock Show each January. COAHEC relies on student, clinical, and non-clinical volunteers to staff and administer health screenings. This is a great opportunity to provide a critical public health service for our state. The stock show runs January 7-22, 2023. Volunteer shifts are for four hours. Volunteers get free admission to the stock show and can qualify for event tickets by volunteering for three or more shifts. Details and links for signing up are on the COAHEC website.

There will be no message on December 26 or January 3 due to the holiday break. Best wishes for a healthy and happy holiday season. Many thanks to all members of our campus community for their dedication and compassion in serving others throughout 2022, and especially to those working during on the holidays. I look forward to working with you for a productive 2023.

Have a good week,

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