Dear colleague: 

The School of Medicine celebrated on Wednesday afternoon the establishment of the D’Ambrosia Family Endowed Chair in Orthopedics. The inaugural recipient of the chair is Robert D’Ambrosia, MD, who has been the department chair since 2002 and he has overseen its growth to include more than 100 full-time faculty. This endowed chair was created with generous private support and shows the importance of philanthropy to our endeavors at the School of Medicine. Our orthopedics program has grown stronger with the addition of many talented faculty members during Bob’s time as chairman. 

Dan Theodorescu, MD, PhD, and Cathy Bradley, PhD, have been appointed to positions on the National Cancer Policy Forum. Theodorescu is director of the University of Colorado Cancer Center and Bradley is associate director for population sciences research at CU Cancer Center. The forum is composed of a panel of experts tasked with “fostering dialogue and discussion across sectors and institutions, and to illuminate issues,” according to the appointment letter by Victor J. Dzau, MD, president of the National Academy of Medicine. During their three-year appointments, Dan and Cathy will advise the scientific community, cancer organizations, federal agencies and the general public on issues of cancer policy. Consensus reports produced by the National Cancer Policy Forum often form the basis for the implementation of new policies that shape research and clinical practice aimed at cancer control. 

The Department of Pediatrics will be honoring this year’s Career Teaching Scholars Award recipients on Friday, Dec. 16, from 12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m., in the Mt. Oxford Auditorium at Children’s Hospital Colorado Second Floor Conference Center. A reception in the lobby will immediately follow. This year’s honorees are Robin Deterding, MD, and Emily Dobyns, MD, both professors of pediatrics, and pediatricians Stephen Fries, MD, and Stephanie Stevens, MD, who are both clinical faculty members. They will be recognized for outstanding contributions to pediatric education throughout their careers. 

John Heldens joined the Anschutz Medical Campus in November as the new director of the Colorado Multiple Institutional Review Board. Previously, John was project director and director of business development for the western region for the Peer Consulting Group, which provided consulting services to improve the efficiency and excellence of the IRB and human research protection programs at several institutions. John has more than 20 years of experience leading an institutional review board and serving as an integral part of the human research protection program at the University of California, San Francisco. We welcome him to CU. 

Stefannie Emerson, CU Medicine vice president for business development and planning, announced last week that she has accepted the position of vice president of planning and strategy at SCL Health. Stefannie is leaving us after 23 years of service; her last day will be at the end of this month. She joined University Physicians, Inc., in 2008 to lead the Business Development unit. She had previously served as the manager for Neonatology from 1993 to 2000; between 2000 and 2008, she was the DFA for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and then the Department of Orthopedics. Her energy and willingness to tackle many assignments have been greatly valued and important to our success. She will be missed and we wish her well. 

The University of Colorado and the Boettcher Foundation have announced the 2017 Boettcher Foundation Webb-Waring Biomedical Research Awards Program, which will provide five grants of $235,000 each, covering up to three years of research activity with the intent to provide independent research opportunities to promising and talented early career investigators. Awardees will carry the title of Boettcher Investigator in acknowledgement of the prestige of the award. Eligible faculty researchers from all four CU campuses are encouraged to apply. Since the first awards were granted in July 2010, the Boettcher Foundation has awarded CU’s 28 current Boettcher Investigators more than $6.4 million. Details about the application deadlines and eligibility for investigators based on the Anschutz Medical Campus are posted online. 

As we near the end of the year, several departments, programs and offices hold gatherings to celebrate accomplishments in 2016 and to show gratitude for the dedication of our peers and colleagues. Last Thursday, the financial and administrative leadership for departments of the School of Medicine had its annual breakfast and the Dean’s Office staff held its luncheon. We are fortunate to have so many talented people working together for the common purpose of maintaining the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Each day, these professionals help us achieve our institutional goals of providing world-class patient care and offering outstanding education to physicians, providers and scientists who are improving our community. I want to thank them for their truly valuable service. 

Have a good week, 

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