Dear Colleague, 

I am writing this message Sunday evening while sitting in the Atlanta airport next to our Dean of the Graduate School, Barry Shur, PhD, and his wife Judy.  Barry was in Atlanta for the AAMC GRAND group meeting; my wife and I were here for the third birthday party of one of our grandsons.  Barry and I have not compared notes to see who spent more time learning things we didn’t know before, but I learned a LOT about trucks and planes and how to play games like “Break the Ice” and “Cootie!” 

This past week was a busy one, and this coming week will be even busier.  Monday I was in Salt Lake City at the University of Utah to make a presentation to the Midcontinental Chapter of the Medical Library Association, where our School of Medicine was represented by a nice cohort from our library leadership and staff. I had been asked 18 months ago to speak about health care reform.  Needless to say, there were things to update in the presentation.  

On “Super Tuesday,” the Executive Committee heard updates on our education programs and on some of the things going on within our community as the various hospitals and health systems open and close discussions with each other as they try to be positioned for a better future.  There was also some discussion about the status of our strategic-planning process, and then at the UPI Board meeting, we discussed and approved moving ahead with the governance changes that have been discussed during the past year.

Wednesday included a meeting with the Denver Health leadership. On Thursday morning, I met with the Children’s Hospital planning and facilities committee and heard about the new strategic-planning process we are taking together. This process will not last more than one month.  Following that gathering, Senior Associate Dean for Education Celia Kaye, MD, PhD, our student affairs and admission deans and I met with CU President Bruce Benson in his office downtown to report on the President’s Scholarship program that he helped us with four years ago. The results of that program are impressive and we thanked him for his support. 

That afternoon, I met with the Physical Therapy Program advisory board that is trying to raise resources for scholarships for Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students. That  board has a great group of enthusiastic supporters of the DPT program. Giving to School of Medicine programs is easy; just use the link on our website. 

Friday was a big day on campus with the Block Party. I was in Atlanta and called in to a meeting of the Anschutz Executive Council and heard that there had been plans to dunk me at one of the exhibits.  I was glad to be in Atlanta where I could immerse myself in grandchildren and not water, although we were doused there when 2.5 inches of rain fell on Saturday afternoon. 

Marian Rewers, MD, PhD, professor of pediatrics and interim director of the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes, this week is receiving the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s Mary Tyler Moore and S. Robert Levine Award for Excellence in Clinical Research at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes meeting in Barcelona. The award recognizes his contributions in the area of prevention of childhood-onset type 1 diabetes. Congratulations to Marian and the team at the Barbara Davis Center. 

CU President Bruce Benson last week announced the creation of the CU-Boulder Disaster Recovery Fund to help CU students, faculty and staff affected by the recent flooding. The university has been helping some of those hardest hit by providing meals and housing to affected students living at and around the Boulder campus. However, the need is greater than the university’s ability to help. If you can, please consider a contribution to this fund. 

The CU Board of Regents on Tuesday, Sept. 17, approved a new master plan for the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, which is an outline of potential growth for the next decade. The master plan was the product of a 15-month study and is the first major update to the original 1998 plan. In a separate vote, the board voted 8-0 to acquire land and adopt a plan for the Bioscience II Building, a joint project with the Fitzsimons Redevelopment Authority. That building would be along East Montview Boulevard between North Scranton Street and North Troy Street. 

The CU Board of Regents last week also passed a nice resolution of appreciation for Bruce Schroffel, the outgoing CEO of University of Colorado Health. It’s well-deserved tribute recognizing Bruce’s significant contributions. Lilly Marks, executive vice chancellor of the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, recounted how Bruce told her that a top-ranked university hospital needs an excellent school of medicine. “He had me at ‘Hello,’” she said. Assuming Bruce may still be reading this, I hope he will let us know when the chairs of the clinical departments and centers and I can take him to dinner. 

With more than 200 outreach programs, the University of Colorado serves residents across the state. The President’s office offers an excellent summary at CU for Colorado. Worth a special note is a recent article on the University of Colorado-Denver website that discusses the many contributions to rural Colorado by the School of Medicine and our fellow schools on the Anschutz Medical Campus. 

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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