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Dear Colleague: 

Congratulations to our Child Health Associate/Physician Assistant Program for its fabulous in the most recent U.S. News & World Report list of health care programs. Kudos to Jonathan Bowser, PA, MS, his leadership team, and all the faculty for their contributions to this outstanding program! 

We’ve always known that our PA program is one of the best in the country. Admission to the program is highly competitive and our graduates are highly sought after. Over the past 55 years, more than 1,400 CHA/PA graduates have entered the workforce.

We are extremely proud of our exceptional program!

In addition to the PA rankings, our Physical Therapy Program continues to be among the best in the country, landing at No. 17 on this year’s list.

U.S. News also released its annual listings of medical schools last Tuesday. The CU School of Medicine was included in the second group of research institutions and the third group for primary care institutions. U.S. News no longer releases specific rank order listings.

Gap Funding Update
Eight investigators submitted requests for funding assistance during the first week after we launched our School of Medicine’s to help researchers facing funding gaps caused by delays at the NIH and other federal agencies.

While many worrisome actions at the national level are causing concern, we must also take time to recognize the strength of our campus. The Gap Funding Program is possible thanks to collaboration between the School of Medicine and our colleagues across the Anschutz Medical Campus.

We have many advantages when compared to our colleagues at other academic medical centers. While others are looking at downsizing, our campus is holding true to our commitment to invest in our people. Chancellor Don Elliman announced in March that we have decided to carry forward with our annual merit and salary adjustment process for faculty and university staff during the July salary-setting cycle.

We have robust clinical practices and strong partnerships that offer reliable revenue based on the work of our faculty and staff. We have increasing demand for those clinical services, and we have talented leaders negotiating the contracts that allow us to provide outstanding care. We have a level of collegiality at our school that is the envy of many other institutions.

Our clinical strength is offering protection to our education and research communities at a time when they are vulnerable to the changing priorities of federal officials. We can offer the Gap Funding Program because of the commitment of our department leaders to support one another. We also are maintaining the support of our graduate students at a time when other schools are cutting programs.

In these changing times, it can sometimes be hard to see the light. I want to let you know that our school is generating incredible power and shining brightly. We should be grateful that all your hard work in recent years has prepared us for this day and we should be proud of how well we’ve stepped up to support one another.

Â鶹´«Ã½¸ßÇå Academy of PAs Awards
The Â鶹´«Ã½¸ßÇå Academy of PAs has announced recipients of major awards that will be bestowed at the academy’s annual awards ceremony on May 18. This year’s honorees are:

• PA of the Year: Alexis Keyworth, PA-C, Assistant Professor of Surgery and Fellowship Director, Surgical/Critical Care
• PA Leader of the Year: Tatiana Emanuel, PA-C, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and the Director of the Office of Advance Practice
• PA Employer of the Year: University of Â鶹´«Ã½¸ßÇå School of Medicine in partnership with University of Â鶹´«Ã½¸ßÇå Hospital

Recent Publications
David Albers, PhD, Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics, is a co-author of an , “Real-time surveillance system for patient deterioration: a pragmatic cluster-randomized controlled trial,” published April 2 by Nature Medicine.

Susan L. Calcaterra, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Medicine, is corresponding author of an , “When Usual Care Is Subpar Care for Hospitalized Patients With Opioid Use Disorder,” published April 7 by JAMA Internal Medicine. Dale Terasaki, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine, is co-author.

Maureen Stabio, PhD, Associate Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology and Vice Director of the Modern Human Anatomy Program, is co-author of an , “En Bloc Dissection and Plastination of the Central Nervous System for Neuroanatomy Â鶹´«Ã½¸ßÇå,” published April 8 by Neurology. Four co-authors are from the Modern Human Anatomy Program.

Ashley Sherrill, Research Services Senior Professional in the Department of Family Medicine, is corresponding author of an , “Â鶹´«Ã½¸ßÇå’s Health Extension Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Multi-method Evaluation,” published March 13 by the Journal of Community Health.

Nicholas Dwork, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Informatics, is corresponding author of an , “Dependence of parallel imaging with linear predictability on the undersampling direction,” published March 31 by the Journal of Electronic Imaging. Two co-authors are from CU Boulder.

Lessons in Climbing
Donna Lynne, DrPH, CEO of Denver Health, wrote a last week that offers terrific wisdom for the moment we are in. Dr. Lynne, an avid hiker who has climbed all of Â鶹´«Ã½¸ßÇå’s mountain peaks taller than 14,000 feet, describes hiking to the Mount Everest Base Camp. 

She said the climb was exhilarating and exhausting, offering views of incredible beauty. It was also a lesson in living with uncertainty while facing steep challenges. “Just as I learned summiting Everest Base Camp, the path isn’t always straight and sometimes defies explanation,” she writes. “We can neither ignore nor react to every obstacle. We must be deliberate and intentional, staying focused, strong and committed.”

Dr. Lynne offers some sage advice from Sir Edmund Hillary, who with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay was the first people confirmed to summit Mount Everest in 1953: “Life’s a bit like mountaineering—never look down.”

Have a good week,

John H. Sampson, MD, PhD, MBA
Richard D. Krugman Endowed Chair
Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs and
Dean, University of Â鶹´«Ã½¸ßÇå School of Medicine