Dear colleague: 

Associate Dean for Student Affairs Maureen Garrity, PhD, announced last week that Terri Blevins, EdD, assistant dean of student life, will be leaving the School of Medicine to become the assistant dean of student life in the University of Illinois Chicago’s Rockford Branch Campus. We appreciate Terri’s dedicated service at the School of Medicine and we wish her continued success. 

As a result of Terri’s departure, the Office of Student Life will be seeking a successor who can quickly assume the important responsibilities of the position. While the job has historically been a 1.0 FTE based on the job description, we may consider two individuals at 0.5 FTE each. There will be an expedited internal search. If you are interested, please contact Maureen Garrity, PhD, associate dean for student affairs, at maureen.garrity@ucdenver.edu with questions. Those interested in applying should see the job description and send a CV and letter of interest within the next two weeks to the search committee chair, Eva Aagaard, MD, associate dean for educational strategy, at eva.aagaard@ucdenver.edu. 

On behalf of the School of Medicine, I offer condolences to the friends, family and colleagues of Qinghong Zhang, PhD, associate professor of dermatology, who died on the Anschutz Medical Campus last week. The cause of her death is under investigation. For those seeking support, mental health professionals will be available on the second floor of Building 500 in the Department of Psychiatry from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today. In addition, support services are available from the Counseling Center at 303-724-6540. 

The University of Colorado Hospital Department of Radiology has been certified as a Diagnostic Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiology (ACR). This prestigious national award puts the department among an elite few radiology departments around the country and the only radiology department in Colorado to be so certified. According to the ACR, the certification is an achievement that recognizes best-quality imaging practices and diagnostic care with a comprehensive assessment of the entire medical imaging enterprise, including structure and outcomes. Congratulations to the School of Medicine’s Department of Radiology and the team at University of Colorado Hospital on this achievement. 

Congratulations to Claire Travis, MA, MBA, education manager in the Department of Surgery, who received the 2016 Graduate Medical Education Program Coordinator Excellence Award from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The award recognizes the crucial role program coordinators play in the success of a residency/fellowship program.  Claire received the award at the ACGME’s annual education conference in National Harbor, Maryland, in late February. 

Matthew Wynia, MD, MPH, director of the Center for Bioethics and Humanities, has been named to the American Psychological Association’s Commission on Ethics Processes. The association approved establishing a commission last summer when the association adopted a policy prohibiting psychologists from participating in national security investigations. The commission is expected to complete its work in 2016 with a progress report due in August. The final report is planned for February 2017. 

The School of Medicine Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library are hosting the Annual Justina Ford and Florence Sabin Scholarship Recipient Reception at 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 9, at the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library, 2401 Welton St., Denver. This reception honors the legacies of Drs. Ford and Sabin, and recognizes our medical students who are recipients of these diversity scholarships.

The Office of Student Life is hosting a student breakfast at 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Wednesday, March 9, in its new space on the first floor of Building 500, Room N1219. It’s where the campus bookstore used to be. Students are invited to stop by for coffee, bagels and pastries and to meet the team in the Office of Student Life. 

Have a good week, 

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