What's Going on Here?
January 14, 2013
Last week was a pretty quiet one, only marked by the daily escalation of hype and expectation for the Bronco game on Saturday. The disappointing outcome is now the focus of a lot of attention, second-guessing and even anger. I confess only to disappointment. The team did not play as well as it should have – one could say it earned the defeat. And having lived through the hype and disappointment of the 1996 loss to Jacksonville not to mention the first four losses in the Super Bowls of 1978, 1987, 1988 and 1990, one does get a “deja vu” feeling about it. Life will go on here in Denver, and this loss, while painful to many, pales in comparison to many of the other personal losses we have witnessed here and around the country this year. And though it doesn’t look like an NBA Championship is in the cards this year, maybe with a 48-game season, we have another shot at a Stanley Cup.
On an otherwise very quiet Sunday morning, I drove in the presence of only a few degrees to the National Western Stock Show (NWSS) and the Hall of Education. For the fifth consecutive year, the people at the information booth had no idea where the Colorado AHEC booth was (that’s because it was listed as the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus) and after five minutes of searching through the loose-leaf notebook database (the NWSS is not yet fully into the electronic age) I decided just to wander around until I found it. And sure enough, Booth 217 was filled with a dozen medical students and two pharmacy students performing health screenings on dozens of NWSS attendees (You can see a photo here). I went through the screening process, expertly performed by one of the fourth-year medical student supervisors. It seems that since getting this job in 1990, I have gained about one stone and shrunk by one inch (one stone sounds better than the pound conversion and I suspect the inch is the result of two disc surgeries). Tara Kennedy, FNP and a member of our Pediatric Infectious Disease Section, was there to supervise the students and was enjoying the time. Tara mentioned that she had signed up after reading this email last week when I asked for volunteers, and Beth Ingram, Associate Director of AHEC who does an amazing job of coordinating this event and practically lives at the Stock Show for these two weeks, told me that she still has openings especially for faculty supervisors. So if you are reading this and want free admission to the Stock Show exhibits and would like to spend about five hours with the terrific student volunteers from this campus, sign up here or email Beth at Beth.Ingram@UCDenver.edu.
The Fitzsimons Redevelopment Authority has signed an agreement with the University of Colorado Tech Transfer Office (CU TTO) and the Innovation Center of the Rockies (ICR) to help commercialize Colorado biotech research and present the best technologies to investment professionals from around the world. The ICR will develop a pilot program with CU TTO to identify research and associated faculty teams with near-term commercial potential. The teams and technologies will be matched with ICR advisors who have the commercialization expertise and the ability to present the most promising projects to investors.
Finally, I had five opportunities to talk with groups last week about our need to increase the level of respect in all corners of our campus. On Wednesday, I met with a group of medical students at lunch and then the Medical Student Council and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Journal Club in the evening. Thursday morning, I spent time with the Department, Center, Division and UPI administrators followed by our SOM Council of Advisors. Most exciting, that latter group, made up of business persons from the community, under the leadership of chairwoman Debra Duke, agreed to focus their efforts over the next year to raising funds to complete the remainder of the $5 million endowment for the dean’s position here (we are at $3.735 million).
And since I had lunch with our clinical chairs Friday noon, I had the opportunity to again personally thank them for their part in the initial donations to this chair. Raising the rest will be a challenge, but an exciting one.
Next Monday the campus is closed for Martin Luther King Day, so you can expect my next installment on Jan. 28.
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 →
If you would like to receive these emails directly, please contact Cheryl.Welch@ucdenver.edu.