Dear Colleague, 

This past week was a memorable one – and not just because the Broncos won!  A lot went on and a lot more is going to be happening, so stick with me to the end of this ... 

After a very efficient internal search process, I asked Robert Anderson, MD, to be our senior associate dean for education and he accepted.  Bob has been working with us managing our upcoming Liaison Committee on Medical Education self-study and site visit, and we are delighted he will add overseeing and streamlining our education enterprise in the school. 

Andrew Bradford, PhD, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology, has been named assistant dean for the essentials core. Andy currently serves as a co-director for the life cycles block in the MD program and director of the graduate program in reproductive sciences. He also serves as research director for the Women’s Reproductive Health Research Center.  In his new position, Andy will be responsible for overseeing the essentials core of the MD curriculum and focus on being a champion for meaningful integration of the basic sciences throughout the entire medical school experience. We thank Matt Taylor, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine, for his work in the interim role this past year.

Finally, as part of our succession planning for continuing education (Ron Gibbs, MD, associate dean and professor of obstetrics and gynecology, plans to retire in June 2015) we have launched a search for an assistant dean of continuing medical education and professional development. The position is 0.1 FTE and begins in summer 2014. A faculty appointment in the School of Medicine and an MD are required. Experience organizing and developing continuing medical education programs is also required. Andrew Bradford, PhD, assistant dean for the essentials core, is chairing the committee. See the job listing for details. Contact office administrator Pam Welker with questions. 

In other news, The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute has awarded an 18-month, $7 million contract to Children’s Hospital Colorado and seven peer institutions for a proposal called “A National Pediatric Learning Health System (PEDSNet).” The proposal calls for creating a national, pediatric-specific learning health system composed of a newly formed multi-institutional clinical data research network. The Colorado site principal investigator is Michael Kahn, MD, PhD. This network calls for leading pediatric centers across the country to collaborate by sharing data from electronic health records and covers three topical areas: inflammatory bowel disease, congenital heart disease and obesity. 

The School of Medicine has received gifts totaling $2 million to establish an endowed chair at the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes. The contributions – $500,000 from The Battin Trust and $1.5 million from an anonymous donor – will endow the chair held by Marian Rewers, MD, PhD, professor of pediatrics and medicine and the center’s clinical director. 

Nicole Spoelstra, a professional research assistant who manages the CU Cancer Center’s laser capture micro dissection facility, has been awarded the 2013 Steven Fadul Award. The award recognizes PRAs at the School of Medicine who demonstrate exemplary commitment and initiative. Nicole works in the laboratory of Jennifer Richer, PhD, associate professor of pathology. Congratulations. 

Eva Aagaard, MD, associate professor of medicine, has been named recipient of the Elizabeth D. Gee Memorial Lectureship Award, which recognizes outstanding University of Colorado faculty members for efforts to advance women in academia, interdisciplinary scholarly contributions and distinguished teaching. Eva is the School of Medicine’s assistant dean for lifelong learning, director of the Academy of Medical Educators and director of faculty development in the Division of General Internal Medicine. She will receive the award on Feb. 28 at CU Women Succeeding, an annual professional development symposium. 

I had the opportunity to attend two events last week that were really nice. The first was a couple of hours Wednesday morning with 21 retired pediatricians who have a breakfast club that meets monthly.  It was an informal session but we discussed some of the history of the school’s move to Fitzsimons, the 40+ year history of the affiliation between Children’s Hospital Colorado and the School of Medicine, as well as some of the issues with regard to the impact of Obamacare (if any) on the school and the hospital. Looking around that room, I saw many individuals who taught me pediatrics when I was a resident and junior faculty and realized that in that room there was more than a thousand person-years of pediatric care for the children and families of this community! 

Then, Friday afternoon, Harley Rotbart, MD, professor and vice chair emeritus of pediatrics, gave a really terrific talk describing the demography of the 600+ faculty from the perspective of the four generations that make up that department. The concept is not new (many in the corporate world have written about this topic in business literature), but seeing it applied to us was interesting and illuminating. 

Finally, I had a very nice dinner with the department chairs last night to thank them for their service.  Mary and I have done this annually for some time and will have others for the center directors and deans over the next couple of months. I appreciate all of them, especially for their service to the school as our “Board of Directors.” At the dinner, I told them that later this afternoon, an email announcement will be sent out from the University’s Offices of the Chancellor and Vice President for Health Affairs, saying that I have asked them to begin a search for my successor. Some of you may have heard the rumor during the past decade that I was stepping down, but this time it is true. That said, there is a lot to get done before that process is completed, and it is not my intention to limp or shuffle off the stage. Next Monday is the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, so my next message will be Jan. 27. Have a great two weeks.

Richard D. Krugman, MD
Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs and
Dean, School of Medicine

"What’s Going On Here" is an email news bulletin from Richard Krugman, MD, Dean of the CU School of Medicine, that is distributed to inform University of Colorado School of Medicine faculty members about issues pertaining to the School’s mission of education, research, clinical care and community service. See the UCH-Insider →

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