Dear Colleague:  

Chancellor Don Elliman delivered an excellent State of the Campus address last Tuesday and I was delighted to see so many outstanding highlights featuring the School of Medicine. The talk was a tour-de-force of campus accomplishments!
A bright spot was a video featuring Doug Scanlon, who received care for colon cancer from a multidisciplinary team at the CU Cancer Center. In that video, members of that team describe the extraordinary care and results. This article in the CU Cancer newsroom also provides details.

We were fortunate to have Doug and his family with us at the Chancellor’s talk. Kudos to his care team, which included Reed Weiss, DNP, Senior Instructor of Surgery, Alexis Leal, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, and Ana Gleisner, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Surgery.

The Chancellor also celebrated superstar singer Céline Dion’s gift establishing the Céline Dion Foundation Endowed Chair in Autoimmune Neurology, held by Amanda Piquet, MD. Learn more about this wonderful gift and about stiff person syndrome in this article and this Q&A.

Members of the Department of Emergency Medicine also earned attention at the address: 

• Emmy Betz, MD, MPH, Professor of Emergency Medicine, was lauded for her leadership of the Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative. This article provides an overview of the initiative’s amazing first year.
• Assistant Research Professor Ian Stanley, PhD’s $3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to study firearm safety in populations with PTSD was featured.
• Also, the talk commended the CU Center for COMBAT Research, led by Vik Bebarta, MD, Professor of Emergency Medicine, for establishing a partnership with the U.S. Air Force Academy.

There were so many additional standout achievements mentioned in the Chancellor’s address that I can’t fit all of them into this message. Please watch the recording and read the article about the address. We have so much to be proud of! Great work!

Economic Impact
The University of Colorado system powers the Colorado economy with an economic impact of $11.6 billion, according to a report of preliminary data presented to the CU Board of Regents Finance Committee last week. For the 2023-2024 fiscal year, the university’s entities on the Anschutz Medical Campus contributed $5.3 billion to that total. Our campus hospital partners, UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital and Children’s Hospital Colorado, added $7.7 billion in economic impact, bringing the total impact to $19.3 billion for all four CU Campuses and our affiliated hospitals. More detail is available in this article in CU Connections.

Clinicians Needed to Pilot AI-Generated Notes
We are excited to announce a new partnership between UCHealth and the School of Medicine with Abridge to use an AI-powered system to generate notes in our clinics. Abridge provides technology that transforms patient-clinician conversations into structured clinical notes in real time and integrates into electronic medical records. We believe this technology could significantly reduce clerical workload while enhancing your clinic experience.

We are seeking volunteers to participate in a pilot program. To be eligible, you must be a physician, APP, or licensed mental health professional seeing clinic patients at least three half days per week and own an iOS/iPhone device. Residents and fellows are not eligible for the pilot phase of the project. We plan to offer the same program for child health faculty and Children’s Hospital Colorado soon.  

With Abridge, we will harness AI technology to enhance care for patients and to improve clinical documentation. This is an important step in our efforts to serve patients while making our work more efficient. For more information and to share your interest in participating, please submit this form by Monday, December 2.

Faculty Updates
Terry Fry, MD, Professor of Pediatrics and Executive Director of the Gates Institute, is headlining a trivia night on November 12 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. The event, Cell & Tell: Discovering the Truth About Cell & Gene Therapy, aims to educate the public about cell and gene therapy while having a bit of fun. Visit www.dmns.org/visit/events-and-activities/ for more details.

Casey Greene, PhD, Chair of Biomedical Informatics, is quoted in a career feature article published October 21 by Nature. It is the second week in a row that Dr. Greene was a source for an article in the journal.

J. Nicole Clark, DPT, Instructor of Pediatrics, is co-author of new guidance for physical therapy management for bone health in people with bleeding disorders adopted in October by the National Bleeding Disorder Foundation’s Medical and Scientific Advisory Council.

Recent Publications
Paul J. Norman, PhD, Professor of Biomedical Informatics, is a corresponding author of an article published October 29 in Cell reporting that an ancient gene mutation among First Nations inhabitants of Oceania may make them more susceptible to infectious diseases like influenza. An article in the campus newsroom provides additional details.

Edwin Liu, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, and Marian Rewers, MD, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics and Executive Director the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes, are co-authors of an article published October 26 by Scientific Reports that aimed to further decipher the biological pathways conveying the season of birth effect in celiac disease autoimmunity to gain novel insights into the early pathogenesis of celiac disease.

Sarah L. Rhoads, MD, Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellow, is corresponding author of an article, “Asthma in Prison: When Albuterol Becomes a Controlled Substance,” that was accepted October 23 for publication by the Annals of the American Thoracic Society. Three co-authors are from our affiliate partners National Jewish Health, Rocky Mountain VA Medical Center, and VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System.

Jillian M. Cotter, MD, MSCS, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, is a co-author of an invited commentary published October 29 in JAMA Network Open addressing concerns related to low-value care in pediatric trauma clinical settings.

Katarzyna Mastalerz, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, is corresponding author of an original research article published October 29 by the Journal of General Internal Medicine that studied patient and health care team experiences with bedside interdisciplinary rounds. Dr. Mastalerz discusses the study in an article in the campus newsroom.

Judith G. Regensteiner, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Director of the Ludeman Family Center for Women’s Health Research, is corresponding author of an invited commentary, “The Compelling Story of Sex Differences – Seek and Ye Shall Find,” published October 30 by JAMA Network Open.

CU Medical Students Apply Free to MPH Program
Our campus offers outstanding training for health care professionals in many fields. Our medical students can expand their impact beyond the clinic by pursuing a Master’s in Public Health degree. In less than a year, our medical students can expand their understanding of how health systems, policies, and community factors influence patient outcomes. Check out the Colorado School of Public Health’s website for details about the MD/MPH dual degree program. For details about the free application process, fill out this form.

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 School of Medicine