Faculty

Suzanne Brandenburg, MD, FACP
Associate Dean for Medical Education
Director Interprofessional Education
Professor- Department of Medicine   

Suzanne Brandenburg grew up in Buffalo, New York. She followed her family to Colorado after college and completed medical school and residency training at the University of Colorado. She became a faculty member right out of residency and has been a clinician educator at the University of Colorado for her entire career. She is currently leading the CU SOM at CSU start-up. She also oversees interprofessional education on the Anschutz Medical Campus and previously served as Director of the Medicine Residency Program and as Vice Chair for Education in the Department of Medicine. She enjoys teaching, mentoring and building programs , and feels privileged to care for patients as a general internist.

Outside of medicine, she spends much of her time with family – her husband of over 30 years, her son and his fiancée, her parents and lots of in-laws. She likes to cook, eat, read and travel.

Christie Reimer, MD, MACP
Assistant Dean, Fort Collins Branch
Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, CUSOM 

Dr. Christie Reimer grew up in South Dakota where she graduated from Augustana College and the University of South Dakota School of Medicine.  She completed her residency and was a chief resident at the University of Kansas School of Medicine – Wichita, and finished a fellowship in primary care faculty development at Michigan State University.  She was on faculty and worked in graduate medical education at KU and then the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine before moving to Colorado in 2008.  She has been actively involved in leadership at UCHealth and in the American College of Physicians, and thus values participation of physicians (and students) in leadership roles in our communities on behalf of our patients.  But, prior to the branch campus opening in Fort Collins, Dr. Reimer really missed daily interactions with learners so she has been thrilled to play a role in building this fantastic program and she cannot wait to have first year students on campus!  She is an ambulatory general internal medicine physician, providing primary care for adults within UCHealth.

Her free time is spent with her two children and partner, and they love to travel, cook, bike, paddleboard, and spend time together. 

Karen Chacko, MD
Admissions Director
Associate Professor, Internal Medicine, CUSOM

Karen Chacko grew up in the San Francisco Bay area before moving to San Diego for both undergraduate and medical school. She first moved to Colorado in 1996 to start her internship and residency in the Primary Care internal medicine program in Denver, Colorado. She stayed on for a year of chief residency, and then joined faculty immediately upon graduation knowing that she wanted to continue in both academics and to work with learners throughout her career. She started working with the internal medicine residency program shortly after joining faculty, and she served as the program director for the Primary Care internal medicine residency program for over 15 years as well as being the senior associate program director for the Internal Medicine residency program for over 10 years.
Karen currently holds roles as the Associate Dean of Clinical Outreach as well as the Medical Director of Digital Health for the School of Medicine faculty at the Anschutz Medical Campus in addition to being the Director of Admissions for the CU SOM at CSU Medical Branch Campus. Her greatest joys in her career include caring for her patients (many of whom she has had for over 20 years) and working with learners at any stage with a focus on career mentorship and personal development.
Most importantly, Karen is the mother to two wonderful teenage girls and wife to her husband who hails from Montana originally. She enjoys exercising, with a particular addiction to Peloton most recently, cooking, spending time with family, traveling and card games.