Dean's Weekly Message

November 17, 2025

Dear Colleague: 

Thanks to everyone who joined last week’s Town Hall for my conversation with Tom Gronow, EdD, MHA, about our relationship with UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital. This past July, we implemented a new funds flow model for how the hospital supports our school for the clinical work of our faculty.

For too long, we’ve relied on one-off negotiations and outdated, siloed agreements that complicated our relationship. So, we’ve adopted a formula for support that is clear, fair, and streamlined. Clinical work is compensated based on peer benchmarks, and our costs are built into the equation.

There are many benefits to this new arrangement that we wanted to share with the entire school community.

• Reduces friction in negotiations. With a consistent formula known by both parties, we instead can focus our conversations on the current competitive circumstances rather than on arrangements that no longer meet our collective needs.
• Supports faculty recruitment. The funding ensures that we attract the best faculty to our campus as we pursue my goal of making CU Anschutz Top 10 in 10 years.
• Protects our faculty and departments. For our faculty, there is ample upside opportunity that incentivizes work and protects us in times of adversity.
• Promotes departmental collaboration. With a level playing field for all departments, leadership can instead focus on working together to build programs. Instead of slicing the pie into smaller pieces for individual units, we work to make a bigger pie that we can all share.

Some faculty have expressed concern that the model will reduce their compensation. Let me reassure you that compensation decisions remain firmly in the hands of department leaders. The funds flow model does not change that. Instead, it empowers your department to reward faculty for their dedication to all of our different missions.

By adopting a model that promotes collaboration, we will be stronger, and we will provide better care. I want to thank those who submitted thoughtful questions. For any who missed the town hall, we’ve posted it online.

Congratulations, Dr. Moss!
Marc Moss, MD, has received the University of Colorado’s highest honor for faculty. He’s been named a Distinguished Professor by the CU Board of Regents. There have only been 160 Distinguished Professors named by CU since the designation was established in 1977 to recognize exceptional contributions to research, education, and service.

Dr. Moss is an internationally recognized leader in pulmonary and critical care medicine whose pioneering research and advocacy have transformed the care of critically ill patients and the well-being of health care providers.

He’s been funded by the National Institutes of Health as a principal investigator for over 25 consecutive years. His groundbreaking work has identified specific risk factors, such as alcohol use, race, gender, and age, that alter the trajectory and recovery of critical illness.

His work also has delineated the impact of neuromuscular dysfunction in critical care survivors and brought national attention to the psychological and physical challenges faced by critically ill patients and the health care professionals who care for them. Overall, his research has reshaped and transformed many approaches to critical care delivery and support.

We are extraordinarily proud to count Dr. Moss as a valued member of our faculty. Please join me in celebrating this honor.

Congratulations, Dr. Kovacs!
Elizabeth Kovacs, PhD, Professor and Vice Chair of Research of Surgery, received the Legacy Award at the Society for Leukocyte Biology annual meeting in October. Dr. Kovacs’s research focuses on the activity of leukocytes in inflammation related to aging, alcohol consumption, and burn injury.

The Legacy Award is especially meaningful, Dr. Kovacs said, because it recognizes the mentorship she has provided to young scientists over the years. “I've mentored over 130 people in my lab, and they have written over two dozen dissertations and theses and published lots of papers,” she said. “My lab mentees have also gotten numerous grants of their own, establishing their own independent academic careers. Over the years, many have gone on to mentor the next generation beyond themselves. Not only do I have lab children, I have lab grandchildren.”

You can read more about Dr. Kovacs in this article in the Department of Surgery newsroom.

Faculty Updates
Bonnie Kaplan, MD, has been named the inaugural GME Director of Education and Innovation. Dr. Kaplan has more than a decade of leadership in medical education, spanning undergraduate and graduate domains. As the former Program Director of the Denver Health Emergency Medicine Residency, she oversaw the training of 68 residents across four clinical sites, leading initiatives in curriculum redesign, individualized education plans, diversity and wellness programming, and assessment. Dr. Kaplan also brings extensive experience in mentorship, remediation, and evaluative innovation.

Christopher Baker, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, and Kristin Nadeau, MD, MS, Professor of Pediatrics, have been elected to the American Pediatric Society (APS). APS members are recognized child health leaders of extraordinary achievement who work together to strengthen academic pediatrics by expanding the workforce, nurturing leaders, and developing innovative approaches to address child and adolescent health challenges. Only 92 new members were elected this year to APS.

Kathleen Simpson, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, has been elected Vice President of the Pediatric Heart Transplant Society (PHTS). After a two-year term as vice president, she will become the President of the PHTS. Dr. Simpson is a dedicated leader in pediatric heart transplantation, committed to advancing patient care, research, and collaboration across our community.

Ihab R. Kamel, MD, PhD, Chair of Radiology, has been elected President of the Society of Advanced Body Imaging (SABI). Dr. Kamel was inducted as a Fellow of the Society in 2016, served as Vice President in 2023, and became President-Elect in 2024. Election as a SABI Fellow is a distinction granted by peers in recognition of outstanding contributions to the field of body imaging — including technological innovation, research excellence, and professional leadership.

Recent Publications
Kent E. Hutchison, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry, is corresponding author of a special communication, “Psilocybin Outside the Clinic: Public Health Challenges of Increasing Publicity, Accessibility, and Use,” published November 5 by JAMA Psychiatry.

Lilia Cervantes, MD, MSc, Professor of Medicine, is corresponding author of an original investigation, “Community Health Worker Support for Hispanic and Latino Individuals Receiving Hemodialysis: The Navigate-Kidney Randomized Clinical Trial,” published November 7 by JAMA Internal Medicine. Nine co-authors are affiliated with our campus.

Lilia Cervantes, MD, MSc, is corresponding author of an original investigation, “Participant Experiences in a Kidney Failure Care Intervention in the Navigate-Kidney Study,” published November 7 by JAMA Network Open. Ten co-authors are from our campus.

Miguel A. Lanaspa, PhD, Associate Research Professor of Medicine, is corresponding author of an article, “Identification of a common ketohexokinase-dependent link driving alcohol intake and alcohol-associated liver disease in mice,” published November 10 by Nature Metabolism. Nine co-authors are from our campus and three are from CU Denver.

Andrés F. Henao-Martínez, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine, is a co-author of a letter, “Polymerase Chain Reaction–Confirmed Oropouche Virus Disease in Loreto, Perú: A Case Series From December 2023 Through September 2024,” published November 11 by Annals of Internal Medicine.

Ajay Major, MD, MBA, Assistant Professor of Medicine, is first author and Vineet Chopra, MD, MSc, interim Executive Vice Dean of Clinical, Research, and Quality, and Chair of Medicine, is senior author of an article, “The Michigan Appropriateness Guide for Intravenous Catheters in Adult Patients With Cancer (MAGIC-ONC): Results From a Multispecialty Panel Using the RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method,” published November 4 by Annals of Internal Medicine.

Andrew A. Monte, MD, PhD, Professor of Emergency Medicine, is senior author of a brief report, “Proactive Bias Mitigation When Using Online Survey Panels for Self-Reported Use of Illicitly Manufactured Fentanyl in the General Adult Population,” published November 7 by JAMA Health Forum.

Fredrick J. Rosario, PhD, Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, is corresponding author of an article, “Normalization of trophoblast mTOR signaling rescues impaired function in primary human trophoblast cells isolated from pregnancies complicated by fetal growth restriction,” published November 7 by Cell Death Discovery. Five co-authors are from our campus.

Associate Dean of Centers and Institutes
The Dean’s Office is seeking an Associate Dean of Centers and Institutes to play a pivotal leadership role in organizing and advancing our centers and institutes. The successful candidate will drive initiatives that elevate the sustainability, effectiveness, and visibility of centers and institutes, positioning them at the forefront of research, education, leadership, and community impact. The Associate Dean will evaluate current structures for siloed or duplicated resources, inconsistent reporting or evaluation, and opaque processes for institutional support. By addressing these, our centers and institutes can maintain creative autonomy while enhancing coordination, visibility, and impact. This Associate Dean will report to interim Executive Vice Dean Vineet Chopra, MD, MSc. For additional detail and for a link to apply, please see the job description on CU Careers.

Associate Dean for Community Strategy
The Dean’s Office is seeking an Associate Dean for Community Strategy to serve as a strategic advisor to the faculty and Dean of the School of Medicine. This Associate Dean will be a member of the senior leadership team reporting to interim Executive Vice Dean Vineet Chopra, MD, MSc. This individual will develop and implement strategies and partner with hospital/affiliate partners to develop, coordinate, and expand the School of Medicine’s presence in Metro Denver and beyond. The broad goal of this role is to ensure alignment across key portfolios to develop a unified strategic plan that drives volume and market share of priority clinical areas towards our hospital partners and CU Medicine. For additional detail and a link to apply, please see the job description on CU Careers.

Federal Government Updates
Last week brought the welcome news that the federal government shutdown has ended. Our federal relations team has been tracking the negotiations and you can get updated reports on the CU System Federal Updates and Actions webpage and the CU Anschutz Federal Updates webpage.

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

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