The CU Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation celebrated it's 35th Annual Gersten Day Rehabilitation Scientific Symposium on Friday, June 17, 2022. Other than some unwelcomed Zoom guests early on in the morning, the presentations went well and provided valuable research, much of which has been submitted for peer-review, and other content to the attendees.

The morning started with presentations by the outgoing residents. Malia Cali, MD, presented on the "Short Term Effects of Intraarticular Triamcinolone Acetonide Injection on Serum Testosterone (T), Luteinizing Hormone (LH) and Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) levels in a Cohort of Male Veterans." Eduardo Carrera, MD, presented on "Planning for Future Steroid Injections: Utility of a Pre-Procedural Cortisol Level." Ryan Hagens, MD, presented on "Back Pain During Pregnancy – Documentation and Referral Patterns at the University of Colorado Health System." Marc Heronemus, MD, presented on "Parkinson’s Disease and Suicide among Individuals Seeking Care within the Veterans Health Administration." Krysten Kasting, MD, presented on "Lower Extremity Functioning and Environmental Factors in Relation to Community Disability among Older Adults with History of Stroke." Finally, Amy Chambliss, MD, presented on "Developmental Outcomes Following Abusive Head Trauma in Infancy: A Systematic Review." That evening, the residents celebrated their graduation at Hotel Clio in Cherry Creek.



Following the residents were the presentations by the department's fellows. Kelsey Darlington, MD, presented on "Cardiovascular Disease after SCI: Development of a Hypercoagulable-Hypofibrinolytic State Early After Spinal Cord Injury." Lauren Desmarais, DO, presented on "Ultrasound Anatomy Curriculum for Neurotoxin Injections." Finally, Jordan Wyrwa, DO, presented on "Teaching the Computer Medicine: Systematic Integration of Biomedical Knowledge and Medical Record Data for Deep Learning."



After the fellows presented their research, the department announced the recipients of the first annual Professionalism Awards during the networking lunch. CU PM&R was honored to bestow Drs. Jason Friedrich, Joyce Oleszek, and Jenny Rodriguez with this recognition. These phenomenal practitioners were nominated by their colleagues for this honor.



After the engaging networking lunch, Noel So, MD, and Cory Christiansen, PT, PhD, kicked off the afternoon with a presentation on "Amputation Research and Innovation at the University of Colorado, an Overview of Happenings," updating colleagues and associates on all the work in the department regarding amputation science.



Finally, the department welcomed the keynote speaker Colonel Benjamin Kyle Potter, MD, FACS. Dr. Potter joined Gersten Day virtually from the Department of Surgery at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. He serves an Orthopaedic Surgery Consultant for the US Army Surgeon General. Additionally, he is Chief Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Amputee Program for the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center - Department of Defense/VA Extremity Trauma and Amputation Center of Excellence. He is also a Musculoskeletal Oncologist at the John P. Murtha Cancer Center of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and National Cancer Institute/National Heart Lung and Blood Institute/National Institutes of Health. Col. Dr. Potter presented on "Osseointegration and Related Advances for Persons with Amputation…Moving towards bionic humans."



The CU Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation is grateful to Col. Dr. Potter for taking time to present his insights and expertise to our colleagues. The department is also grateful to all of our residents, fellows, and faculty for the incredible research happening at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, that help advance the value of rehabilitation sciences.