Dear colleague: 

A team of CU School of Medicine students have posted a video describing their inspiration for participating in the American Medical Association Global Health Challenge. Students William Kromka, Garrett Prince, Frederick “Taylor” Lynch, Ahmed Tahseen, and Charlie Ventriglia, are competing to be selected for a trip to Guatemala, Ecuador, or the Dominican Republic to provide health services to local populations. Last month, their essay was one of 10 selected from hundreds of entries. Now, with their video, which focuses on the experience of providing care in Khayelitsha township in South Africa, the team hopes to be one of the top five in getting votes. Visitors to the website can vote up to one time per day until July 30. To vote, click on the blue thumbs-up button above the video. 

The ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the Rocky Mountain Regional Veterans Affairs Medical Center is scheduled for Saturday, July 21. The new hospital nearly doubles the size of the facility to 1.2 million square feet, increases the number of beds from 148 to 168, and adds a new spinal cord injury unit, among other features. Most patient rooms in the new hospital will be private rooms with private bathrooms. This transition to a new facility, adjacent to the Anschutz Medical Campus, will be a significant improvement to the care of our nation’s veterans. According to the VA, the center’s 2,705 employees have collectively received more than 40,000 hours of training to prepare to move into their new workspaces. We congratulate the VA team on achieving this milestone move. 

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs last week announced an effort to improve access to clinical trials for veterans with cancer. The agreement calls for NCI to provide infrastructure funding support to VA facilities and for the VA to establish a network focused on NCI trial goals. The VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System in Denver is one of 12 VA sites selected to participate in the NCI and VA Interagency Group to Accelerate Trials Enrollment, or NAVIGATE. This is a promising development for research and clinical care activities on the Anschutz Medical Campus and a welcome improvement in extending innovative care to veterans. 

Each year, the Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute hosts an academic conference called the CU-CSU Summit. The event, to be held on Wednesday, August 15, at the Plaza Convention Center in Longmont, brings together researchers from CU Anschutz Medical Campus, CU Denver, CU Boulder and Colorado State University in order to foster innovative, cross-campus collaborations. This year’s summit topic is “Lifespan Research: From Pregnancy through Aging” and it will feature a poster presentation by three poster presenters, who are chosen based on their abstract submissions. The deadline to register a poster is Monday, July 23. There is no charge to attend the summit, but registration is required. 

Congratulations to Catherine Brannan, a student in the CU College of Nursing, for being named one of the 2018 Honorable Mention winners in the Arnold P. Gold Foundation’s 2018 Hope Babette Tang Humanism in Healthcare Essay Contest, the first year of the nearly 20-year contest to expand from medical students to include nursing students. The writers shared a healthcare experience with a patient or fellow clinician that led to a new, unexpected understanding or perspective. More than 3,000 essays have been submitted to the contest. 

Elizabeth Concordia, president and CEO of UCHealth, has been named a finalist in the Denver Business Journal’s 2018 Outstanding Women in Business. There were nearly 300 nominations for the Denver Business Journal’s annual Outstanding Women in Business awards that have been narrowed to 36 finalists in 12 industry categories, including health care. 

CU Urology - South Denver is the first community-based urology practice of the University of Colorado School of Medicine in affiliation with UCHealth. As such, they can provide the accessibility and care expected from a community practice while leveraging the academic excellence of the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Austin DeRosa, MD, and David Sobel, MD, offer a comprehensive package of urologic and patient services. CU Urology - South Denver is located in the Highlands Ranch Medical Plaza at 9330 S. University Blvd. and can be reached at 303-265-3940. Additional information is available at the CU Urology - South Denver website. We thank UCHealth for its continued support of the expansion of our network of providers. 

Condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of Constantine John Falliers, MD, who died June 27. He was 93 years old. A distinguished physician, researcher, and author who had significant international influence in his primary field of allergy and asthma, he held faculty appointments with the School of Medicine beginning in 1961, most recently as an associate clinical professor in the Department of Medicine from 1988 through 2006. He had longstanding associations with the School of Medicine, National Jewish Health and the Veterans’ Affairs Medical Center. Funeral services were held on July 5. 

Have a good week,

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