Dear Colleague: 

Advancing Excellence Across UCH
Kristin Mekeel, MD, Chief Quality Officer for UCHealth and Professor of Surgery, reported outstanding news about patient safety at University of Colorado Hospital (UCH) at last week’s CU Medicine Board meeting.

Thanks to strengthening its commitment to quality and patient safety, UCH achieved a top quartile ranking in Vizient Quality & Accountability for FY25, which is our best performance in six years. UCH was ranked No. 27 out of 118 academic medical centers.

This achievement reflects the dedication of teams across the organization and reinforces that each metric represents real patient impact: fewer infections, faster recoveries, lower mortality, and safer care. We’re not done yet! Safety always remains at the center of our work.  

Over the past year, we reviewed more than 32,000 safety reports (a 12% increase), reduced serious safety events, and recognized 80 team members for great catches. Great catches represent a moment in time where our team members recognize and intervene before a potential error reaches a patient. By recognizing and celebrating great catches, we are encouraging our teams to continue to prioritize patient safety and create psychological safety to speak up to prevent patient harm.
 
Continuing in FY2026, we will focus on the highest-opportunity measures within the safety and effectiveness domains, reinforcing standard work, and promoting psychological safety so every team member feels empowered to speak up.

Together, we’re turning data into action — and action into safer, more reliable care for every patient.

ECG Management Consultants Engagement
Recognizing our long-standing and collaborative partnership and the outstanding results we have achieved together, the School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital Colorado are exploring potential organizational and financial models to further strengthen our child health performance.

We have recently launched a shared project with ECG Management Consultants to evaluate potential structures and models. As part of the initial work, ECG will interview several leaders.  

ECG will be assisting us in evaluating what potential benefits could be achievable under a potential new model. Given the strength of our relationship, collaboration will remain a hallmark of our culture and partnership. Our areas of exploration for this new model include:

Strategic:

• Maintain and enhance all mission areas: Research, Clinical, Education, Advocacy
• Increased clarity and efficiency of oversight and decision making with well-defined accountability
• Accelerated growth, outside of Colorado, especially in the 7-state region and nationally 
• Greater alignment of strategic and financial interests across the faculty and hospital
• Heightened awareness and focus on child health priorities between the school and hospital
• Increased responsiveness to partnership and Care Alliance requests from partners

Financial:

• Preserve advantages of malpractice coverage and the continuation of Upper Payment Limit funding
• Unified payer contracting for professional and technical services outside the state of Colorado
• Simplified and streamlined provider and program support from the hospital
• Ensure long-term financial support for the child health faculty
• Accelerated financial improvement projects

I expect that our faculty will receive updates and can provide input through the department’s leadership team.

Congratulations, Dr. Epperson!
Congratulations to Neill Epperson, MD, the Robert Freedman Endowed Professor and Chair of Psychiatry, who has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), one of the highest honors in health and medicine. Dr. Epperson is one of only 90 people elected this year as regular members.

The NAM’s announcement extolled Dr. Epperson for her groundbreaking research at the interface of psychiatry and women’s health, with the discovery of childhood adversity interaction with gonadal steroids leading to fundamental brain changes and risk for cognitive and mood disorders for females. Through cross-species research, she has identified biological mechanisms that inform novel interventions.
 
New members are elected by the current members of the NAM, and such peer recognition ensures that members are contributing at the highest levels in the advancement of the medical sciences, health care, and public health.
 
In Dr. Epperson’s case, she’s been an NIH-funded researcher for 30 years, receiving grants from five NIH institutes, representing broad appeal of her work. She’s also a highly interdisciplinary researcher, collaborating with Tracy Bale, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry, to create translational models of how stress in one generation is passed to the next. Dr. Epperson also focuses on sex differences in offspring stress physiology related to parental childhood adversity.
 
“All of these areas of great interest right now,” Dr. Epperson said. “Not only the reproductive psychiatry piece, but how sex as a biological variable impacts human health, and how adversity in one generation can be biologically passed to the next generation, often in a sex-specific manner. Since the announcement was made, I have received congratulatory emails from people all over the country and from across campus. It’s such an honor. I could not be more thrilled.”

At CU Anschutz, we are particularly fortunate to have many NAM members:

• Tracy L. Bale, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry, elected 2024
• Marian “Emmy” Betz, MD, MPH, Professor of Emergency Medicine, elected 2023
• Bruce Calonge, MD, MPH, Clinical Professor in the Colorado School of Public Health, elected 2011
• Frank V. deGruy III, MD, MS, Adjoint Professor and former Chair of Family Medicine, elected 2010
• Robert Freedman, MD, Visiting Clinical Professor and former Chair of Psychiatry, elected 2004
• Larry A. Green, MD, Distinguished Professor of Family Medicine, elected 1991
• Richard B. Johnston, Jr., MD, Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics, elected 1995
• Richard D. Krugman, MD, Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics and former Dean of the School of Medicine, elected 2005
• Jay Lemery, MD, Professor of Emergency Medicine, elected 2021
• Spero M. Manson, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Public Health and Psychiatry, elected 2002
• Bernard W. Nelson, MD, former Chancellor, elected 1982
• Jonathan M. Samet, MD, MS, Professor of Epidemiology and Occupational and Environmental Health and former Dean of the Colorado School of Public Health, elected 1997
• John H. Sampson, MD, PhD, MBA, Professor of Neurosurgery and Dean of the School of Medicine, elected 2017
• Nanette Santoro, MD, Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology, elected 2018

One of my goals is to continue to expand the number of NAM members we have here. I have asked Dr. Tracy Bale to organize a process that helps us bring attention to our many deserving faculty members who belong in this important group. If you have questions about nominating a colleague, please reach out to Dr. Bale and to Judy Sherman, [email protected], in the Dean’s Office for more information.

Congratulations, Dr. Krugman!
Richard D. Krugman, MD, Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics and former Dean of the School of Medicine, has received the 2025 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellows (RWJF) program Lifetime Achievement Award.

The award was announced last week by the National Academy of Medicine, which conducts and administers the program with funding support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Dr. Krugman was a member of the 1980-81 class of RWJF fellows and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2005.

Dr. Krugman served as Dean of the School of Medicine from 1992 to 2015 and as Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs from 2007 to 2015.

A nationally recognized leader in health policy, Krugman has chaired the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect of the Department of Health and Human Services, served as a program advisor to the RWJF Rural Infant Care Program, and led the RWJF National Advisory Committee for the Clinical Scholars Program.

In an article in our School of Medicine newsroom, Dr. Krugman said: “Being selected for this award was a complete surprise. I am truly honored, and very grateful to the individuals who nominated me.”

For those who know Dr. Krugman, the award is certainly no surprise; he’s highly deserving of this honor!

2025 State of the Campus
Chancellor Don Elliman will deliver his State of the Campus address in a new town hall format on Thursday, October 30, at 4 p.m. I will join a panel discussion along with Liz Concordia, President and CEO, UCHealth, and Jena Hausmann, President and CEO, Children’s Hospital Colorado. Together, we’ll answer your questions and discuss the progress, partnerships, and priorities shaping the future of our academic medical campus.

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear directly from campus leadership about our shared vision and ask your questions about the direction of CU Anschutz in our evolving health care landscape. Register to attend. The event will take place in the First Floor Auditorium of Education 2 South. In-person space is limited, and an online option will be available.

Upcoming Town Hall on Funds Flow
Please plan on tuning in for the School of Medicine’s virtual town hall on Thursday, November 13, at 8 a.m. I will be joined by Tom Gronow, EdD, MHA, President and CEO of the University of Colorado Hospital. We will discuss our hospital partnership and answer your questions on the new funds flow model. I welcome you to register for this online event and to submit questions in advance for Dr. Gronow and myself.

Faculty Updates
Julie Venci, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine and Program Director, CU Med-Peds Residency Program, has received the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education’s Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award, which recognizes program directors who have fostered innovation and improvement in their programs and served as exemplary role models for residents and fellows.

Mark Deutchman, MD, Professor of Family Medicine and Associate Dean for Rural Health, was a presenter at the Advancing Diagnostic Excellence in Rural Areas workshop presented by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Washington, D.C., on October 14. Joining Dr. Deutchman were Meggan Grant-Nierman, DO, a family medicine physician in Salida and a preceptor for our Rural Track, and Kevin Stansbury, CEO of Lincoln Health in Hugo.

Vik Bebarta, MD, Professor and recently appointed Chair of Emergency Medicine, has been named the George B. Boedecker, Jr. and Boedecker Foundation Endowed Chair in Emergency Medicine.

CCTSI Pilot Awards
Last week, the Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI) announced the awardees of its 2025 Pilot Grant Program. Congratulations to the awardees of these 24 grants, which are generously funded by National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences/National Institutes of Health and the School of Medicine (Traystman Fund). To learn more about how these awards make an impact not only on the research itself, but also on the individuals who lead it, conduct it, and ultimately benefit from it, read the Power of Pilot Grants.

Recent Publications
James A. Feinstein, MD, MPH, Professor of Pediatrics and Pediatric Director of the Epidermolysis Bullosa Multidisciplinary Program at Children’s Hospital Colorado, is author of a Perspective article, “Living in the Present Tense,” published October 18 by The New England Journal of Medicine. For more about Dr. Feinstein’s work with patients with epidermolysis bullosa and their families, check out Matter of Time. Dr. Feinstein attended the documentary’s premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in June. Get ticket information for the film’s tour and upcoming visit on November 9 to a movie theater in Arvada.

Luis Fermin Cava Prado, MD, Professor of Clinical Practice of Neurosurgery, is a co-author of an article, “Cervical spine schwannomas in a young female from a low resource setting: a case report,” published October 21 by the Journal of Medical Case Reports.

Sachin Wani, MD, Professor of Medicine and the Katy O. and Paul M. Rady Endowed Chair in Esophageal Cancer Research, is the lead author of guidelines, “AGA Clinical Practice Guideline on Surveillance of Barrett’s Esophagus,” published in the November 2025 issue of Gastroenterology.

Nicole M. Wagner, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine and investigator with Adult and Child Center for Outcomes Research and Delivery Science, is corresponding author of a perspective article, “Increasing opportunities for community input in harm reduction program development using iterative engagement,” published October 22, in Harm Reduction Journal. Six co-authors are from our campus or Denver Health.

Federal Government Updates
The federal government shutdown continued last week, creating uncertainty for our critical missions. I appreciate the insights from our federal relations teams and encourage you to stay informed via 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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