Dear colleague: 

I am pleased to announce that Anne Fuhlbrigge, MD, MS, has accepted our offer to become the School of Medicine’s next Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer for University Physicians, Inc. (UPI), beginning June 2016. Anne is currently clinical chief of pulmonary and critical care medicine and vice chair of ambulatory specialty services at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Anne brings a distinguished record of service that includes steering committees at the Brigham, as co-investigator on several large multi-institutional projects, and on national and international programs and committees evaluating treatment strategies and implications for health policy management. Additionally, Anne’s husband, Robert Fuhlbrigge, MD, PhD, will also be joining the University of Colorado School of Medicine faculty. Rob is an associate professor of pediatrics and dermatology at Harvard Medical School and he will be heading the pediatric rheumatology practice at Children’s Hospital Colorado and will be an important member of our Department of Pediatrics. We are fortunate to have Anne and Rob joining us and I hope you will join me in welcoming them.

I would like to thank the Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs search committee who dedicated considerable time and effort during the process of reviewing, interviewing and selecting candidates for this important leadership post. The committee included Joan Bothner, MD, chief medical officer of Children’s Hospital Colorado, Stephen Daniels, MD, PhD, chair of pediatrics, Jean Kutner, MD, MSPH, chief medical officer of University of Colorado Hospital, William Neff, MD, chief medical officer of UCHealth, Richard Schulick, MD, MBA, chair of surgery, Jane Schumaker, executive director of UPI, and David Schwartz, MD, chair of medicine.

Also, I want to express appreciation to Doug Jones, MD, who will step down as Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs, a post he has held since 2010. Doug has been gracious with his time and advice during the past year. His dedication to the School and its students and faculty is paramount and he’s been a crucial leader in building relationships between the School, our hospital partners and our exceptional faculty. The School of Medicine has been fortunate to have his extraordinary talents and wisdom in this key leadership post. 

On Friday, April 8, the School of Medicine held the 2016 SNMA Mentor Day and Graduation Banquet, allowing some of our soon-to-be graduates to don their long white coats and to meet with prospective medical students who were on the Anschutz Medical Campus for a second-look day. The Student National Medical Association (SNMA) is an important organization on our campus. I told the fourth-years that while some of them may be leaving our campus, they will always be ambassadors for our School and we are proud of them. I also told these future physicians and the prospective medical students that we place great hope in them to be the voices of reason in creating a health-care system that is fair and equitable to all. These prospective medical students are very impressive; some have multiple medical school offers in hand, and we hope they will join us in fulfilling our mission.

The School of Medicine celebrated the establishment of the Joyce Zeff Endowed Chair in Lung Cancer Research on Tuesday, April 5, with a reception honoring donor Joyce Zeff. With generous support from Joyce and her family, the School has secure funding for an essential faculty position. For the Zeff family, this gift is more than a thank you for excellent care, it’s an investment in a program that is constantly working to improve care for others. We are grateful for the support. Ross Camidge, MD, PhD, director of the Thoracic Oncology Clinical and Clinical Research Programs, is the initial recipient of the Zeff Chair.

Faculty of the School of Medicine should receive a request today from the Office of Professionalism to fill out a confidential survey of faculty attitudes. The goal is to evaluate the level of workplace satisfaction among faculty. This survey, administered by an independent third party, should take only 5 minutes to 10 minutes to complete and it is designed to provide respondents complete anonymity. I would encourage all faculty to complete the survey so that we have meaningful results.

Jeffrey Druck, MD, associate professor of emergency medicine, has been awarded the 2016 Chase Faculty Community Service Award. This award is bestowed annually by the University of Colorado to a faculty member who in addition to his or her university responsibilities, has, pro bono, provided exceptional educational, humanitarian, civic or other service in the community. Jeff is the president of the board of Wapiyapi, which is a camp for children who have been diagnosed with cancer and for their brothers and sisters. Congratulations to Jeff on this well-deserved honor.

Congratulations to the second cohort of the Leadership in Education Administration Program, an initiative of the School’s Academy of Medical Educators. This year’s participants are Elshimaa Basha, MPH, operations manager, Center for Advancing Professional Excellence; Kristin Furfari, MD, assistant professor of medicine; Abraham Nussbaum, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry; Jennifer Rodriguez, PT, MHS, associate professor of physical therapy; Darlene Tad-y, MD, assistant professor of medicine; and Kristina Tocce, MD, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology. 

“The Road to Resilience,” a conference sponsored by the School of Medicine Resilience Council and Office of Professionalism is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 14, from noon to 4:30 p.m. The goal of the conference is to raise awareness and promote education on the topics of burnout prevention and resilience among health care providers. Invited speakers include Liselotte (Lotte) Dyrbye, MD, professor of medicine and medical education at Mayo Clinic, and Aviad (Adi) Haramati, PhD, professor of integrative physiology at Georgetown University. RSVPs are due by Monday, Aug. 1. Registration and more information is available on the Resilience Council’s website.

The School of Medicine is seeking a director of its Global Health Track to succeed Jennifer Bellows, MD, MPH, assistant professor of emergency medicine. The director is a 0.4 FTE position and requires an appointment in the School of Medicine and an MD or DO degree. The director will develop and implement curriculum and assist students in identification of research mentors and global health projects to fulfill the mentored scholarly activity requirement.  For more information contact Marsha Anderson, MD, assistant dean for the longitudinal curriculum.

We offer our condolences to the family and friends of Kenneth Atkinson, MD, a Centennial physician who was shot and killed last week while coming to the aid of an injured neighbor. Kenneth graduated from the School of Medicine in 1977 and was a leader in the Kendall and Taylor Atkinson Foundation, an organization supporting scientific and medical research in developing effective treatments and a cure for Fanconi anemia and its side effects. Two of Kenneth’s children died of complications from Fanconi anemia. He is survived by his wife, Jeanne, a graduate of the CU College of Nursing, two daughters and five grandchildren. 

Have a good week, 

John J. Reilly, Jr., MD

Richard D. Krugman Endowed Chair

Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs and
Dean, School of Medicine