Dear Colleague: 

We remain alert to governmental actions that are affecting our operations, and we are coordinating campus teams to address these concerns. I want to reassure you that we are as concerned as you about the impacts to your work and we are engaging in substantive ways to protect your ability to serve our community.

While we have more questions than answers from officials in Washington, we continue to have work to do here, so I want to address some matters that have been raised by members of our campus community.

Medicaid. The House of Representatives approved a resolution last week that could lead to significant cuts in Medicaid spending. The following day, the House Speaker stated that lawmakers would review ways to cut costs after several lawmakers who had supported the budget resolution expressed reservations about the size of the potential Medicaid cuts. Our government relations team is aware of the profound impact on Medicaid patients, especially children, and the team is working to protect them.

Grants. Keep working on your grant applications. As Cathy Bradley, PhD, Dean of the Colorado School of Public Health, said during a campus leadership call last Thursday, “No grant has ever been awarded unless it was submitted.” Federal actions could cause delays, but we also shouldn’t give up without trying. When there are grant deadlines, let’s keep pushing forward to meet them. The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research has posted a helpful FAQ page.

Diversity. If the Request for Application on a grant calls for information about how applicants are complying with existing grant expectations for inclusion, provide it. Make clear that you are providing the information “per the requirement” and consider noting that you will be responsive to future direction when it is available.

Immigration. Our police have reported that no immigration agents have been on our campus because of recent government actions. If you encounter someone claiming to be an officer from a government agency, call our campus police at 303-724-4444. Our campus police are an excellent resource and are here to help. The CU Anschutz Federal Transitions Updates webpage also includes advice if you are contacted on campus.

The CU Office of Government Relations also has posted a Federal Transitions Updates webpage that is a useful resource. Check it for the most recent information, including last Friday’s letter. Stay informed, stay connected, and trust that together, we'll continue advancing our academic, research, clinical, and public service missions. 

Faculty Updates
Lisa Schilling, MD, MSPH, Professor of Medicine, has been named Associate Dean for Population Health and Value-based Performance. In this role, Dr. Schilling will lead CU Medicine and School of Medicine services that enable success in population health, value-based payment contracts and institutional quality and utilization reporting in both adult and child health domains. Dr. Schilling is an experienced leader who has served as co-Director of the Data Science to Patient Value Initiative and as the Division of General Internal Medicine's Associate Division Head for Research and Innovation. She is a Fellow in the American College of Physicians and the American Medical Informatics Association, and she is board-certified in internal medicine and clinical informatics. She will continue as the Medical Director of CU Medicine’s Office of Value Based Performance, a founding role she has held since 2015.

Peter Dempsey, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics, has been named a recipient of a 2025 Pediatric Gastroenterology & Developmental Biology Section Research Mentor Award from the American Gastroenterological Association Institute Council. He will receive the award at the Digestive Disease Week meeting in San Diego in May.

Erin Harvey, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Director of Urgent Care at Children’s Hospital Colorado, has been elected member at large for the Board of Directors of the Society for Pediatric Urgent Care, a collaboration among leaders in pediatric urgent care delivery at top children’s hospitals across the country.

Aline Maddux, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Erin Stenson, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics were each recognized in the "Pediatrics: Year in Review" session at the Society of Critical Care Medicine Congress in Orlando, Fla., last week. They were honored as leading authors of two of the top 5 articles published on clinical research.

Recent Publications
Apoorva Ram, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, is corresponding author, and Haley M. Simpson, MD, PhD, Instructor of Medicine, is a co-author who is credited as contributing equally to an original research article, “The Experience of Undocumented Individuals Denied Stem Cell Transplant for Hematologic Malignancies,” published in January by the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Three co-authors are from the School of Medicine.

Kathleen M. Adelgais, MD, MPH, Professor of Pediatrics is co-author of an article, “Analyzing patient perspectives with large language models: a cross-sectional study of sentiment and thematic classification on exception from informed consent,” published February 20 by Scientific Reports.

Theresa Grover, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, is a co-author of a clinical research article published February 25 by Pediatric Research that examines inter-center variation in inpatient outcomes for infants with congenital diaphragmatic hernia.

Prem S. Subramanian, MD, PhD, Professor of Ophthalmology, is a co-author of an article published February 19 by Eye that characterizes the international variation in ophthalmic trauma and determine risk factors associated with visual and anatomical outcomes for low-, middle-, and high-income countries.

In Memoriam
Ernest Cotton, MD ’54, Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics, who had served on the School of Medicine faculty for 30 years when he retired in 1988, died February 6. Dr. Cotton was a pioneer in the field of pediatric pulmonology and made important, original contributions in pulmonary hypertension, control of breathing, and pediatric critical care. He inspired generations of medical doctors with his knowledge, experience, and charismatic lectures. Additional details about Dr. Cotton’s life are included in this online obituary.

STEM Poster Day
STEM Poster Day at the Capitol will be held at the Colorado Capitol on Tuesday, March 11th from 9:30 a.m. to noon. At STEM Poster Day, early career scientists share their research in ways that are designed to engage conversation with lawmakers and the public. At this year’s event, 50 posters will showcase current research of our PhD students. Three School of Medicine PhD students, Rachael Kostelowsky, Elizabeth Spear, and Gabrielle Vragel, have been invited to join lawmakers on the floor of the state senate to celebrate their work. Everyone is invited to attend and support our early career scientists!

Call for Faculty Judges
The School of Medicine is seeking faculty judges for the Mentored Scholarly Activity capstone presentations by Class of 2025 medical students. Judges are needed to score the quality of posters and student presentations on Monday, April 7, at the Strauss Health Sciences Library. There are three one-hour sessions beginning at 1 p.m. Please sign up through this link to judge one, two, or all sessions. To learn more about the MSA program, visit the website. Email questions to som.msa@cuanschutz.edu.

Call for Applications
The Institute for Healthcare Quality, Safety and Efficiency invites applications for its Certificate Training Program (CTP) and the Clinical Effectiveness & Patient Safety (CEPS) Grant Program. CTP is a year-long professional development program combining classroom sessions, coaching, and mentored enhancement of leadership teams charged with improving performance of care delivery systems. CEPS provides awards up to $25,000 for quality improvement initiatives aimed at improving health care value, implementing innovative process changes, and putting evidence into practice. Applications are due April 14. Email questions to IHQSE@cuanschutz.edu. 

Education Grand Rounds
Olle ten Cate, PhD, Chair of Medical Education at University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands, will deliver Education Grand Rounds, “Trusting Juniors to Take Over Your Work,” at noon March 13 in the Gossard Forum in the Fulginiti Pavilion for Bioethics and Humanities. Dr. ten Cate is a world-renowned expert in medical education and is particularly noted for his transformative work on Entrustable Professional Activities. We encourage you to attend in person, but a Zoom option is also available. 

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