Dear Colleague,

I am sure it’s been a busy week for everyone because we are all in the midst of budgeting, evaluations, salary planning, strategic planning and more.  The snow and cold prevented me from getting to my first Rockies game of the year last Monday night.  The team is doing very well, but I have a dim recollection that last April was really good and then things fell apart. Hopefully history won’t repeat itself. Monday was also the night of the annual reception at the Chancellor’s home for faculty with 25 years of service in our consolidated university. (I have just reached 40 years.)  I tried to get there, but unfortunately I was completely foiled by the snow and traffic on I-225 and wound up never making it. I heard it was a nice event.

“Super Tuesday” was busy with several good reports: Celia Kaye, MD, PhD, senior associate dean for education, reported on a letter from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education letting us know that previous concerns it had regarding the diversity of our student body are gone, and Ron Gibbs, MD, associate dean for continuing medical education and professional development, presented a report on the roll out of the Maintenance of Certification and Portfolio Approval Program, which is under way.   We also reminded the Chairs and members of the executive committee that, as alluded to in last week’s WGOH, even though the Regents have authorized a unit-funded 3.1% salary pool for faculty (which the school also adopted) and for exempt staff, this does not mean that all faculty and staff will get that percentage as a raise.  In fact, with the sequester’s impact on grant funding and our need to be sure that we can bridge some of our investigators as well as the 2% reduction in Medicare reimbursement, we cautioned departments not to give automatic raises this year unless there was clear merit, a promotion or some other justifiable reason.  Perhaps the most interesting hour last Tuesday was the presentation of the quadrennial University of Colorado Hospital Physician Satisfaction Survey, again demonstrating that we have a lot of work to do in improving our “teamness.”   

Tuesday evening, Children’s Hospital Colorado had a celebration bestowing to Doug Novins, MD, director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the title of Cy and Lydia Professor of Child Psychiatry. Doug is the second holder of this chair, having succeeded Marianne Wamboldt, MD, who stepped down last year to focus on her research.   The event was held at the American Museum of Western Art downtown and was really very nice.  

Wednesday evening – in the midst of yet another snowstorm – I stayed in the office late to attend the Spring (!!) Concert of Melomania (our Anschutz Medical Campus Orchestra) and the Arrhythmias (our campus a capella singing group).  We have some very talented musicians and singers on this campus!  The theme of the evening was “Dance” and all the pieces played or sang related to that theme. 

I hit the road Thursday afternoon to fly to Minneapolis to pick up an award and give a talk at the bi-annual meeting of the Academy on Violence and Abuse. The award was actually given two years ago, but I couldn’t make that meeting and promised I would come this year to pick it up. It was a unique opportunity to land in the middle of the same storm Denver had the night before.  I therefore had to miss the SNMA banquet here in Denver which honors our graduating students from diverse backgrounds.  Congratulations to all those who were recognized.

Friday I left Minneapolis for Baltimore where we celebrated a grandson’s 11th birthday with crab cakes and ribs from the fabulous Corner Stable restaurant in Cockeysville, Md. (They deliver out here!)  The need to be with family last weekend meant that I could not participate in the conference that our medical students from the student section of the American Medical Association put on for their counterparts from Western US medical schools.  I gave them a taped welcome, and I hope, as I now fly back from Baltimore Sunday afternoon, that the conference was a success.

The Donor Memorial Ceremony will occur at 4 p.m. Friday, April 26, in Ed 2 South, Room 1102. It is a memorable annual event where all the healthcare students whose curriculum includes human anatomy pay tribute to those who have donated their bodies for learning. Our students show their respect and families remember their loved ones. It is an incredibly moving event and I encourage you to attend.

In the ongoing rotation of societies holding major meetings in Denver, the Society of General Internal Medicine will have its Annual Scientific Meeting this week at the Sheraton Denver Downtown. Events begin Wednesday, April 24, and the three-day annual meeting features many notable speakers, including our own Jean Kutner, MD, MSPH, professor of medicine, who is organizing a program in geriatrics. 

The School of Medicine’s Academy of Medical Educators, which promotes and rewards teaching excellence, has seven new members.  The new members join a distinguished roster of others here who are committed to excellent teaching. We appreciate and benefit from their commitment to excellence in education.

Malik Kahook, MD, professor of ophthalmology, will receive the 2013 Ludwig von Sallmann Clinician-Scientist Award at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology annual meeting in May. The award recognizes Malik for early-career contributions. Congratulations.

Alicia Gore from Otolaryngology, Jennifer Burr from Radiation Oncology and Pamela Sullivan from Family Medicine at Rose Medical Center on Thursday received the first Outstanding Program Coordinator Awards, a recognition conferred by their peers and Carol Rumack, MD, associate dean for graduate medical education. Alicia also was chosen as the School of Medicine’s nominee for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education’s 2014 Program Coordinator Excellence Award.

Looks like there will be a little more snow in the next couple of days – I hope it passes by the fourth weekend in May when we graduate!

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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