Dear colleague:

Last week was a relatively quiet one. It was free of any dinners or evening receptions for me to attend, although that will change this week. I am sitting home on a nice hail-free (so far) Sunday afternoon listening to Vivaldi and Handel (both of whom were interns with me years ago) and looking forward to the summer solstice this Saturday. There is almost as much soccer for me to watch this weekend as there was 30 years ago when all four of my sons were involved in tournaments at the same time. The U.S. team will have its first World Cup game this afternoon in Natal, Brazil, where it has been pouring rain since Friday. 

The Faculty Senate had its final and shortest meeting of this academic year and wrapped up its work for the 2013-2014 academic year. After discussing seven proposals for reapportioning the seats assigned to departments, a motion to table the discussion passed overwhelmingly. Next year’s senate will grapple with the details of that question. Thanks to all senators, particularly this year’s Senate President, Nichole Reisdorph, PhD, associate professor of immunology, for their service to the School. 

The annual call for nominations for the School of Medicine Faculty Professionalism Award, which is presented in August at the School of Medicine matriculation ceremony, is open. Award criteria and nomination packets are available online. Nominations are due by 5 p.m., Friday, July 11, to Director of Faculty Affairs Cheryl Welch. 

The Hot Spotters Student Program, developed by Roberta Capp, MD, MHS, assistant professor of emergency medicine, is a new summer program here on campus designed to introduce young people to health care. The program teaches students about the needs of underserved populations and it aims to improve access and quality of care for patients who are frequent emergency department users.  There are 12 college students or recent graduates participating in the program this year. The students will receive training in patient navigation and will be assigned to a frequent emergency department user who has been hospitalized. The students will help these patients with transportation, food pantries, housing applications and other community resources. The program is an excellent example of our School’s commitment to teaching and learning, patient care and community service. 

Congratulations to the 2014 Class of Boettcher Investigators in the Webb-Waring Biomedical Research Program. The Boettcher Investigators program provides support for early career scientists. Among the awardees are four linked to the School of Medicine: Roger Bannister, PhD, assistant professor of medicine; Subhajyoti De, PhD, assistant professor of medicine; Kunhua Song, PhD, assistant professor of medicine; and Rachel Zemans, MD, assistant professor of medicine at National Jewish. 

Children’s Hospital Colorado was ranked No. 6 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report on its 2014-2015 Best Children’s Hospital Honor Roll. Children’s Hospital also ranked in 9 out of 10 specialties surveyed by the magazine, including six specialties that ranked in the top 10: diabetes & endocrinology (No. 4), neonatology (No. 4), pulmonology (No. 5), orthopedics (No. 7), cancer (tied for No. 9) and gastroenterology & GI surgery (No. 10). 

The Leadership for Innovative Team Sciences (LITeS) program is seeking nominations for 2014-2015 sessions.  LITeS provides training for 30 University of Colorado senior and mid-career faculty and academic administrators aspiring to improve their management and leadership skills with a focus on building strength for collaborative science. More than 150 senior scientists and academic administrators, including all our campus deans and many department chairs, have completed the program during the past five years. Details about the program, including dates for the 2014-2015 quarterly meetings, are available on the website of Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI). The deadline for nominations is Monday, June 30. Contact Emily Warren, program manager for CCTSI’s Education, Training and Career Development Core, for more information. 

Last week I mentioned a recent Maureen Dowd column in The New York Times about her dysphoric reaction to edible marijuana during a trip to Denver. Based on her column, I noted that there should be labels with product information and warnings. On Wednesday, Denver Post columnist Vincent Carroll criticized Dowd’s column as misleading because there are labels on edible marijuana products. Among other things, the label is supposed to say: “The intoxicating effects of this product may be delayed by two or more hours.” Apparently the labels are inadequate warnings, based on the number of people who are coming to the emergency room after eating edible marijuana products. The labels certainly do not list potential adverse effects like those described by Ms. Dowd. As long as emergency rooms are seeing people who overdose on edible marijuana products, these concerns will remain a serious public health concern for everyone in Colorado. 

Last Friday was an unusual occurrence: a Friday the 13th with a full moon. Some media reports called it rare and said the last time that happened was Oct. 13, 2000, and it won’t happen again until Aug. 13, 2049. But it will in some parts of the world. It will happen in New Zealand at midnight Jan. 13, 2017. And if you are still here in Denver in 2019, you won’t have to wait 35 years because the full moon will happen after 10 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 13, 2019. So maybe it isn’t so rare after all…. 

Have a good week,

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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