Dear colleague: 

After a wonderful week with our children and their families, it is nice to be back. I hope everyone had as good an end of the calendar year. I am hopeful that there may be news from the Chancellor’s Office this week; it is exactly 51 weeks since I asked for the search for my successor to begin.

I signed up this afternoon to take a shift at the National Western Stock Show which opens Saturday, Jan. 10, and runs for two weeks. The sign-up process for this Area Health Education Center activity is a little annoying because of federal government regulations, but takes no more than three minutes. Please sign up today and thanks for pitching in.

We send our best wishes to a longtime colleague, JoAnn Lindenfeld, MD, professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology, who is moving to Tennessee to become director of the Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute after nearly 30 years here at the University of Colorado. JoAnn has been chief of the heart transplant program at the University of Colorado Hospital and she has served our School with distinction. A fellow physician, Bruce Madison, MD, MPH, sent me this heartfelt tribute: “JoAnn has expertly guided hundreds of patients . . . through the life-altering experience of heart transplant. She has been a brilliant and compassionate physician, a true doctor’s doctor.”

We offer our condolences to the friends, family and classmates of Philip Stephens, class of 2017, who had been ill for several months. Phil died on Christmas Day and his funeral was Sunday, Jan. 4. The School’s Office of Student Affairs has been in contact with his family and while the family has requested that no memorial service be done at the School of Medicine, Phil will be recognized at the orientation to Phase 3 dinner on Wednesday. He will be missed.

Robert Flick, an MD candidate scheduled to earn his degree in 2017, had one of his photographs featured on the cover of the Dec. 20, edition of The Lancet. Robbie is currently a Doris Duke International Clinical Research Fellow in Malawi via the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His work in Malawi is primarily case-finding and linkage to care strategies for pediatric tuberculosis and HIV. Robbie was one of 12 winners in The Lancet’s Highlights photography competition. His photo features a community health worker preparing to provide HIV testing and counselling at the Kawale Health Centre in Lilongwe, Malawi.

About 60 students gathered on the Anschutz Medical Campus on Friday, Dec. 19, to raise awareness about racial bias as part of a nationwide movement by some students known as White Coats for Black Lives. The students gave speeches on Boettcher Commons before marching across campus to the space between the research towers.  I was giving a diploma to one of our December MD graduates, so I did not see it. In a month where there have been many demonstrations nationwide, I am grateful that our students exercised their rights peacefully and with respect. I personally wish that the polarized factions throughout our country could communicate with each other with the same level of respect.

Bryan Haugen, MD, professor of medicine and pathology and head of the Division of Endocrinology, sent a note last week to let us know about two opportunities to honor our friend and longtime colleague, E. Chester “Chip” Ridgway, MD, who died last summer. First, the University is establishing an endowment to support the Endocrinology Fellowship program in Chip’s name. For more information about the fellowship endowment, contact Liz Muscatello. The other opportunity is led by the American Thyroid Association (ATA), where Chip was a former president.  The ATA has named a trainee conference in Chip’s honor and is seeking contributions to support it. You can find more information at the ATA’s website. 

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. 

Unsubscribe →